ROXAS: PROBE ON LAND CONVERSION SHOULD FOLLOW MORATORIUM
STUDY ON LAND CONVERSION NEEDED IN EXTENDING LAND REFORM

Senator Mar Roxas reiterated his call for an "absolute moratorium" on all cases of conversion of agricultural land into other uses, and for an investigation on these, especially in such cases where the government spent for irrigation.

"Maraming halimbawa ng prime irrigated agricultural land na ginastusan ng gobyerno na lagyan ng irigasyon, tapos nagkaroon ng suhulan sa isang tanggapan, kaya automatically nako-convert sa ibang gamit (There are many examples of prime irrigated agricultural land where government spent on its irrigation, and then bribery happened in a government agency, so the land was automatically converted to another use)," he said.

"Kaya masasabi na yung mga tanggapan sa gobyerno na pumapayag sa conversions na ito, sila na rin mismo ang nag-contribute sa food crisis o food shortage ngayon. Dapat iyang imbestigahan, dahil lahat ng pagdurusa ni misis ngayon, na P30 ang kilo ng bigas, kasangkot sila diyan, (We could say that those government agencies that allowed these conversions also contributed to our food crisis or food shortage today. We should investigate them, because they contributed to the suffering of our housewives)," he stressed.

The Liberal Party President said that when a hectare of land gets converted to another use, other portions of the land that are not converted but that share with it an irrigation system also get affected.

"Ang masaklap dito, kung sa gitna ng isang irrigation canal ang lupa na na-convert, eh di natigil na. Yung mga lupa na nasa dulo, wala nang irigasyon (What's unfortunate is that when the converted land is in the middle of an irrigation canal, irrigation for other lands will also be cut off)," he said.

Roxas also stressed that this investigation into agricultural land conversions should be part and parcel of the process in reviewing and extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

"The poor farmer is not only tempted to sell to the land developer, but also to sell back to the original owner of the land, because they don't have capital and funds to buy inputs. So if we're going to extend land reform, we should study this closely so that we're not just repeating the mistakes of the past," he said.