Land conversion moratorium needs review

CONTROVERSY has erupted over the proposal by Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano to impose a two-year moratorium on the conversion of agricultural land, with just about everyone – the government’s economic cluster led by the National Economic Development Authority, the real estate industry, other business groups, and even poultry and hog farmers – objecting to the move.

The Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) is drafting an executive order that will place a two-year moratorium “on the processing and approval of all applications for all land-use conversion of agricultural lands for non-agricultural uses.”