|
THE definition of land use in the Philippines fuses both the
practical and ideal. There are few contentious points and if there
is a will questions on land use can be settled amicable and
expeditiously.
In this context, we can say that the current
verbal war over biofuel development in the Senate, with Sen. Migz
Zubiri representing the pro camp and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon
representing the anti camp, is a massive saliva-spewing tussle, more
designed to attract media attention than solving this petty dispute.
If there is a will and a respected mediator, the
two camps can easily solve this phony policy conundrum.
Invoking the core policies of national land use,
the pro camp of Mr. Zubiri should be allowed to use the following
land categories for biofuel production:
1. Those classified fit for grazing, which have
gradients to steep for rice, corn and cash crop production;
2. Land areas that cannot hold water even during
the rainy season; and
3. Land areas that have to be irrigated by
shallow tube wells pumping in surface water on a 24-hour basis. This
will consume too much diesel and utterly uneconomical.
Let us leave all of these land areas to Mr.
Zubiri and his biofuels development program and add two more land
categories: any new agricultural land developed by the Zubiri family
using family funds and lands owned by the Zubiri family.
The total acreage of these land categories is
enough to jumpstart the biofuels program. And with this total,
Senator Zubiri should be fully contented. He cannot have everything.
The display of bratty behavior with the grant of this concession
will be unacceptable. Remember where he was in the 2007 election.
The rest of agricultural lands should be devoted
to full-scale production of rice, white and yellow corn and the
other crops that we really need for our food needs. This should
satisfy Mr. Biazon and those questioning the policy baby of Mr.
Zubiri.
Biofuels development and intensified food
production can co-exist with the minimum of friction. We have zoned
our finite and limited agricultural lands a long time ago. It is
easy to demarcate what belongs to Migz’s baby and what belongs to
full-scale, year-round food production.
With this problem resolved, the national
government should enforce a policy recommendation from our
party-list Butil without allowances and room for compromise. This is
on the conversion of agricultural lands into other uses: upscale
housing areas, mass housing sites, golf courses, factories and
industrial parks, etc. Ka Nellie Chavez, our representative in the
House, said the ban on land conversion is a national imperative.
Ka Nellie has drawn a map she calls the Sta.
Rosa to Sta. Rosa Corridor to dramatically illustrate the reckless
pace of land conversion. There is a historical underpinning to her
map.
Just a few decades back, Sta. Rosa, Laguna and
Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija—and the areas between them—represented
the seat of the agrarian struggle that almost toppled a government
and established a new one led by peasants and the ploretariat. Nueva
Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan and Laguna were the primary spheres
of influence of the agrarian struggle.
Now, not a trace of agrarian crusade can be
found in the areas between Sta. Rosa, Laguna and Sta. Rosa, Nueva
Ecija. Except for the old Huks now mostly 80 years old and above,
very few remember that there was fierce and bloody struggle to end
the agrarian inequities and the Corridor was the main battleground.
Today, the Sta. Rosa to Sta. Rosa Corridor is a
chunk of coveted real estate. The conversion of the prime rice lands
in these areas into subdivisions , factory sites and industrial
parks is brisker there than in any part of the country.
On this stretch of land bloodied by the peasants
who died fighting for their cause, Ka Nellie ruefully says, we now
have concrete mixers and bulldozers turning every square foot of
suitable land into malls and subdivisions.
mvrong@yahoo.com
|
