Let it be known...

....NLUA is not dead!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS2266GsXyA

By Maricel Tolentino

0917-8191089  

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Let it be known...that even with Certification of President Aquino that the National Land Use Act is a priority and urgent piece of legislation, it was bucked by delaying tactics of Senator Marcos and Villar on the second reading and never presented their said ammendents until the last session day of the Senate (February 6, 2013).

Let it be known... Senators Marcos and Villar had eight months to study and provide their ammendments since the circulation of the Committee Report in May 2012. Even at the last minute of the last days of the Senate session the said ammendments failed to be presented with the deliberate absence of Senator Marcos and thus avoided deliberation on the Senate Floor. An announcement was made by the Majority Floor Leader of the Senate, that his so-called 54 ammendments were backed up by the powerful Chamber of Real Estates and Builders‘ Association, Inc.

Let it be known...that in the last Philppine Development Forum, February 4-5, 2013, the passage of the NLUA was one of the priority policy agenda agreed upon by government, development partners, civil societies, academe and private sector. 3 of the 6 clusters, namely the Economic, Climate Change and Human Development and Poverty Reduction, highlighted the utmost urgency for the passage of the NLUA.

Let it be known....the NLUA, asleep for more than twenty years, was again re-awakened in the 15th Congress by tireless groups diversely represented by technical land use experts, scientists, and more than thirty networks of organizations from the urban poor, farmers, fisherfolk and Indigenous Peoples. They painstakingly contributed to help revise NLUA, alongside representatives from both the Congress and Senate, to tailor-fit NLUA to the existing conditions and future demands for the sustainable use of lands. The national government agencies, namely: the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, among others, have participated in numerous committee hearings and consultations to ensure that the voices of whom they serve, and to whom their mandates benefit, is encompassed and upheld by the NLUA. 

Let it be known...that the process that the NLUA bill, blocked by the Senate, evolved from a highly consultative, participatory process and involved many opportunities for different stakeholders, including real estate developers to refine the NLUA. These efforts to reawaken NLUA took three years, and over 30 national and local consultations guided by national and international land use planning experts.

Let it be known...that these lawmakers have destroyed the very process and essence of democracy, wherein, IT SHOULD BE THAT the interest of and what would benefit the majority and not a select few, is what is deemed as the most important factor in the laws they pass to better the lives of the citizens they serve.

Let it be known...that the version claimed by the Chamber of Real Estates and Builders‘ Association, Inc., was crafted only to benefit the interests of real estate developers, and not the needs of the majority. They are not the only citizens of this country. They do not own the right to dictate what is good for the majority. Their arguments do not take into consideration others who have a greater stake on our nation’s lands, who have the inherent right on how lands from ridge to reef can be better managed. 

Let it be known...the irresponsible actions of the said lawmakers has a fatal impact on everyone’s lives today and in the future.. that instead of holistically adddressing the threats of disasters, food scarcity and environmental degradation in one law,the National Land Use Act, you, me, your children and children’s children will now have to fend and protect our communities individually and piece by piece.

Let it be known...The 20-year long wait for a national land use act will not wait for another 20 years. It will be revived AGAIN...and AGAIN...and AGAIN, because the NLUA speaks for and by the people. It puts a prime spotlight and outlines the framework how to address food security, ecological balance and how to safeguard the Philippines against disasters and climate change.

Let it be known..the NLUA being pushed for passage Senate Bill 3091 is not ruled by hunger for money, fame and self-invested power.

We know and the rest of the Filipino people do sense what is going on. We are the boss and not a mere handful of senators playing tricky delaying tactics.

We know...being kept in the dark and living in uncertainty is simply NEVER acceptable.

We know...the power is ours, our voices matter, our votes count, if not today then tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS2266GsXyA