CITY OF MALOLOS—The provincial government of Bulacan headed by Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado addressed on Tuesday the concern of his constituents regarding excessive land reclassification and conversion of productive land that might affect the food production. He tackled these twin issues during the “Usapang Agri: Pangangalaga sa Lupang Sakahan Forum” held at The Pavilion, Hiyas ng Bulacan Convention Center in this city.
“Bulacan is so blessed, but I worry because of the government’s too much land reclassification and conversion. We wake up and see our farmlands developed into urbanized housing. Farmers are tempted to sell their farmlands at say, P30 million per hectare. They would rather sell than spend the whole day doing back-breaking labor under the hot sun in their farm. Besides, many of them farm at a loss,” he said. The governor warned his constituents, though, to make sure land development is “according with the mandate of the law.”
Sy-Alvarado said this in the light of Bulacan’s producing more than 60 percent of all vegetable, meat and fish sold in all public markets in Metro Manila.
Vice Gov. Daniel R. Fernando said that although technology keeps on advancing and the province is on a steady path to progress, too much land reclassification might cause hunger in the long run. “We are calling on the National Irrigation Administration to fix irrigation as it is one of the causes of farmers’ selling their farmland to developers.”
The forum included discussions on “Productivity and Protection of Agricultural Lands by Michael Manansala from the Department of Agriculture, Region 3; “Powers and Responsibilities of LGUs on Land Reclassification” by Jayson Jumaquio from the Department of the Interior and Local Government; “Process and Requirements of Land Conversion” by Raparado Galos III from the Bureau of Agrarian Reform, Legal Assistance Region 3; and “Process on Land Development” by Perlito Abello from the Housing and Land Use
Regulatory Board.