The House of Representatives has recently approved on second reading one of its priority measures, which prohibits the conversion of irrigated and irrigable lands to ensure the country’s food security.
Through viva voce voting, lawmakers approved House Bill (HB) 7115, which seeks to address threats to food security in the country by amending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 (CARL), or Republic Act (RA) 6657. CARL was enacted to promote social justice, sound rural development and industrialization and encourage land owners to cultivate economic-size farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture.
The lower chamber is expected to approve the measure on third and final reading next week.
HB 7115 calls for penalizing the conversion or causing the conversion of irrigated and irrigable lands. To make the penalties imposable, the bill seeks to amend RA 6657.
The bill defines irrigated lands as “lands serviced by natural irrigation or irrigation facilities, as delineated by the Department of Agriculture [DA] or the National Irrigation Administration [NIA], which includes lands where water is not readily available as existing irrigation facilities need rehabilitation or upgrading, or where irrigation water is not available year-round.”
Irrigable lands are those “suitable for the conduct of agricultural activities which require irrigation and display physical features justifying the operation of an irrigation system.”
Under the bill, actual physical or legal conversion or causing the physical or legal conversion of irrigated and irrigable lands are committed by the following: 1) any person who directly and indirectly participates in the conversion of irrigated and irrigable land; 2) any person who directly or indirectly induces the landowner or farmworker in the conversion of irrigated and irrigable land; 3) any person who applies for and facilitates the application for conversion; 4) any person who facilitates the application and issuance of clearances and other documents necessary for conversion; 5) any person who approves and cause for the approval of the application for conversion; and 6) any person who directly and indirectly benefited from the conversion.
The bill amends Section 74 of RA 6657 so that any person who knowingly or willfully violates the provisions of the Act shall be punished by imprisonment of one month to three years or a fine of P1,000 to P15,000, or both, at the discretion of the court.
Meanwhile, imprisonment of six years and one day to 12 years, or fine of not less than P200,000 to P1 million or both, at the discretion of the court shall be imposed upon violators.
The bill also provides that if the offender is a public officer, he shall suffer the additional penalties of removal from office and perpetual absolute disqualification to hold public office.
In 1996, Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, one of the authors of the bill, said the World Food Summit defined food security as the state, “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle.”
To achieve this goal, Alvarez said it is “indispensable” that sufficient land resources are protected and available in order to produce sufficient food for the nation. One of the legal instruments designed to achieve food security is Republic Act 6675, or the CARL, Alvarez added.
With CARL, Alvarez said farmers are expected to own land which they can till to uplift their socioeconomic status, while providing adequate food for Filipinos.
However, the Speaker noted that the same law allows for the reclassification or conversion of agricultural land and its disposition should the land cease to be economically feasible and sound for agricultural purposes after the lapse of five years, or if the same has become more urbanized and will be more economically valuable for residential, commercial and industrial purposes.
“As a result, prime agricultural lands, as well as irrigated or irrigable lands, have been adversely affected by rampant and unchecked conversions. This has led to a distributing threat not only against our country’s food security, but to the whole agrarian-reform program, as well,” Alvarez said.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes