Congress must stop delaying passage of land use bills

ON Monday, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) disclosed that it had drafted an executive order (EO) addressing the regulation of land use, which President Rodrigo Duterte may decide to issue after a Cabinet meeting being held today. The EO was not, surprisingly, requested by the President, but rather by other Cabinet members who have grown frustrated with the chronic failure of Congress to take land use legislation seriously.

There have been several land use bills filed over the past several sessions of Congress, but none has ever made it beyond committee debate. Two versions of another proposed National Land Use Act (NaLUA) are currently stuck at a similar point in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, despite the President’s clear position that it should be a priority issue.