Monday, December 22, 2008 Arroyo places land use committee under Neda
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has converted the National Land Use Committee (NLUC) into a committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), which would be chaired by Planning Secretary Ralph Recto.
Arroyo said the new Neda committee would be the highest policy-making body on land use and would advise her on deciding and resolving conflicts among agencies affecting land use and physical planning.
She said Neda is responsible for development planning and formulation of socioeconomic policies, plans, and programs to achieve sustainable economic growth and equitable distribution of income and wealth.
She said there is a need to rationalize and optimize the use of the country's land and other physical resources to ensure sustainable development. She noted that the existing laws on land use such as agrarian reform, protection areas, ancestral domain, fisheries, forestry, agricultural modernization, mining, and housing are "sector specific and do not address cross-cutting land use issues."
The President said population growth and other development priorities such as food security, settlement development, industry development, environmental protection, and infrastructure continue to compete for land use.
Arroyo said the NLUC will be chaired by the planning secretary with the secretaries of environment, agriculture, agrarian reform, trade, public works, transportation, tourism, local government, justice, science, and energy as members.
Also members of the committee are the chairpersons of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Councils, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and National Commission for Indigenous Peoples, and two private sector representatives. The presidents of the League of Provinces, League of Cities and League of Municipalities of the Philippines will also be invited to the meetings.
The committee will advise the President on land use and physical planning, formulate a national physical framework plan that would guide the rational use of the country's lands and physical resources, promote the integration of land use and physical planning policies including disaster risk management into national socioeconomic plans, decide on land use policy conflicts among agencies, establish a database system that would identify the present and possible uses of specific land areas, and provide policy directions to the Regional Land Use Committees.
To help the NLUC, Arroyo also created a technical board that would be headed by the Neda deputy director general for regional development, with the representatives of the member agencies of the committee as members.
The NLUC will be replicated in the regional levels and would be placed under the Regional Development Councils.
It may call on any government agency and private entities for cooperation, support and assistance in the performance of its functions. Its funding for the first calendar year will come from Neda. (JMR/Sunnex)
