Villar, Tulfo in heated exchange over land conversion

MANILA, Philippines — Senators Raffy Tulfo and Cynthia Villar had a verbal exchange during the national budget deliberation late Wednesday night over farmlands that were converted into residential and commercial spaces.

Tulfo interpellated Villar, who was defending the proposed 2023 budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA), and raised the issue of decreasing agricultural lands in provinces due to conversion to subdivisions.

He noted that many farm-to-market roads were, in reality, private property or cockpit arenas (sabungan).

“Farm-to-market road (projects) are full of corruption... Farmlands are shrinking because these are converted to commercial use. What is the DA doing about it?” Tulfo said.

Villar, who admitted that their business involved developing subdivisions, clarified that they only buy lands in the city and are not affecting farmlands.

“We don’t buy agri-land in the provinces... The buyer of houses wants also an opportunity, so if they’re having financial problems they can resell houses… We limit ourselves to cities and capital towns,” she said.

But Tulfo cut Villar and pointed out that he was from Isabela City in Cagayan province, where many farmlands were converted into subdivisions. This, he said, was his reason for pushing the passage of the proposed Land Use Act.

“There were (farmlands in) Cauayan in Isabela (converted into subdivisions),” he noted.

Villar explained that Cauayan, being a city, is allowed to convert its land uses.

“They (government) allow conversion (of land uses) in cities and capital towns. Some are selling their lands and invest in other areas where lands are cheaper… you have to understand (that) as a business,” she pointed out.

“If you have the opportunity to sell your land at a higher price and be able to buy a bigger piece of land with the same money in less prime areas... you will do it. Where will the people live when you don’t build subdivisions?” she added.

Villar recalled writing and pushing the Rice Tariffication Law because the prices of rice rose in 2018 between P50 to P60 per kilo. “That’s the only time President Duterte became unpopular because rice is a political crop.”

“The Philippines was given 25 years to be competitive. If we don’t liberalize they will bring down our credit rating. So it is a loss to the Philippine government. When they asked me to write the law, I gave all the money from collection of tariff to farmers,” she said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. is pushing for a “holistic” method in land use and management policy to prevent the loss of lives and damage to properties due to the adverse effects of worsening climate change.

“Initiatives on crafting of a national land use and management policy began more than two decades ago. It is high time that this proposed measure be enacted into law,” Teves said, referring to the House Bill 2878 he filed. –  Delon Porcalla