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SPOT-ZONING by towns and cities is a great worry for
investors, especially now that the Supreme Court had
affirmed local government units’ authority to establish
them.
This is
the message of the Employers’ Confederation of the
Philippines, and its chairman, Miguel Varela, has urged
the Supreme Court to reconsider its recent decision.
Varela
spoke at the two-day Forum on Increasing Access to
Justice that ended Tuesday. He said:
“We
believe that giving a blanket, absolute and unfettered
affirmation of the local government units’ power to
declare zoning may be too injurious to the
competitiveness of the Philippines in attracting
investors to the country. While cities have the power to
reclassify land, we believe that this must be consistent
with an integrated and comprehensive land-use plan and
must not be discriminatory.”
Varela
was referring to the Court’s decision ordering the
transfer of the Pandacan oil depot after the Manila City
government passed an ordinance reclassifying the area to
commercial from industrial.
The oil
companies had fought the campaign to eject them for
seven years, mainly on the ground that the depot had
been set up there long before the residential
communities, now deemed at risk in case of an accident
or act of terrorism, began to mushroom.
Varela
said arbitrary spot-zoning ordinances should not be
allowed since this will make the business environment
“unpredictable and unattractive to investors.”
He
added: “Industries will not spend millions of pesos in a
particular city or ordinance or province if a local
government unit can effectively kick them out anytime by
reclassifying the area where their office, factory or
establishment is located.”
The
national government and other stakeholders, insisted
Varela, should take a second look into the issue of spot
zoning due to its economic consequences; and suggested
the Judiciary and the business sector strengthen their
partnership as one way to address the issue of access to
justice by business.
Specifically, Varela asked the Philippine Judicial
Academy to expand its partnership with the National
Competitiveness Council and the Philippine Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, in order to allow judges and
justices to become observers in companies. This way,
they will have a good understanding of the corporate
environment.
He also
called on the Judiciary to extensively utilize the
Alternative Dispute Resolution system to de-clog the
court and, at the same time, train more mediators,
especially in the provinces and other far-flung areas,
as a way to provide the people more access to justice.
“An
important thing in these judicial reforms, therefore, is
that they must improve the delivery of justice to our
people, and we, the business people, recognize the need
for us to be actively involved,” said Varela. |
