MANAGING OUR LAND RESOURCES AND SECURING OUR FUTURE: A Briefer on

House Bill No. 6545

1. What is House Bill No. 6545?
House Bill 6545 or the National Land Use and Management Act of the Philippines seeks to
institutionalize land use and physical planning as a mechanism for identifying, determining,
and evaluating appropriate land use and allocation patterns in the country. It recognizes the
need for a rational, holistic and just allocation, utilization, management, and development of
our countrys land and the resources therein.
2. What is land use planning?
Land use planning is about the proper management of land resources. It guides
the decisions that society makes about the use of land to safeguard the public interest and
general welfare, and to promote the common good. This is supported in the Philippine
Constitution of 1987 under Article XIII Section 1 which states that the Congress shall give
the highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all
the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic and political inequities by equitably
diffusing wealth and political power for the common good. To this end, the State shall
regulate the acquisition, ownership, use and disposition of property and its increments.
Further at the heart of land use planning is sustainable development where the people are
cautioned to use and manage the land resources in a way that the present needs are met
without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their needs.
3. Why do we need a National Land Use and Management Act?
a. The amount of land resources remains finite while the countrys population steadily
increases
b. Existing laws on land such as the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA),
the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS), the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law (CARL), the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), Urban Development and
Housing Act (UDHA), the Fisheries Code, the Local Government Code (LGC) are sectoral
in approach and cannot resolve conflicting sectoral demands for land;
c. While land use planning and zoning are ongoing practices of the Local
Government Units (LGUs), the resulting plans are not comprehensive and usually do not
embrace the whole territory of an LGU. Likewise, existing land use plans are largely
outdated and zoning ordinances suffer from poor implementation. Irrational planning
coupled with the poor implementation of existing land use plans have resulted in disasters
like floods and landslides which, in turn, have destroyed lives and properties.

Given these issues on land use, HB 6545 proposes the crafting of a National
Physical Framework Plan (NPFP) which shall define the national strategy and objectives of
the countrys urban, rural and regional development. This framework plan shall
indicate broad spatial directions and policy guidelines given four categories of land use,
namely protection, production, settlements development and infrastructure development.
The provision for these categories aims to ensure that our lands and resources are
protected and utilized in a manner that will be beneficial and sustainable for all sectors of
society as well as for the future generations.
Regional and provincial physical framework plans, and comprehensive land use plans at the
city/municipal level good for about thirty (30) years shall then be formulated. The entire
planning process shall thus employ a combined top-bottom and bottom-up approach.
4. What are the four categories of land use planning?
HB 6545 provides for a clear delineation of land use categories, described as follows:
a. Protection Land Use is the use of land primarily reserved for rehabilitation,
conservation, and protection purposes and the promotion of the countrys ecological and
life-support systems;
b. Production Land Use is the direct and indirect utilization of land to generate outputs
resulting from the following activities: agricultural, fish farming or aquaculture, timber or
agro-forestry, grazing and pasture, mining, indigenous energy resource development,
industry, and tourism;
c. Settlements Development is any improvement on existing settlements or any proposed
development of certain areas for settlement purposes. It also involves the spatial distribution
of population, identification of the roles and functions of key urban centers, determination of
relationships among settlement areas, and the provision of basic services and facilities of
identified major settlement areas or growth centers;
d. Infrastructure Land Use is the use of land dedicated to the provision of basic services
that foster economic and other forms of integration necessary for producing or obtaining the
material requirements of Filipinos, in an efficient, responsive, safe and ecologically-friendly
built environment. It includes among others sub-sectors like: road networks, transportation
and communication facilities, social services, environmental service facilities, and utilities.
5. What is the implementing structure of the proposed law?
The National Land Use Committee (NLUC) under the NEDA Board (NB) shall be converted
into the National Land Use Policy Council (NLUPC), which will exercise the powers and
responsibilities identified under the proposed bill. It shall assume the functions of the NEDA
Board-National Land Use Committee (NB-NLUC) and the powers and functions pertaining
to land use planning vested by law to the HLURB. The NLUPC shall act as the highest

policy making body on land use and resolve land use policy conflicts between or among
agencies, branches, or levels of the government. A similar structure at the Regional level
will also be established while Land Use Boards will be created at the provincial, city and
municipal levels.
HB 6545 also seeks to integrate and institutionalize peoples participation in defining the
framework of land utilization and management. It provides for the mandatory participation
of stakeholders, particularly the basic sectors, including women, in key decision-making
bodies on land use policy at all levels. This ensures meaningful opportunities for the
different stakeholders to participate in the land use process.
6. Where will appropriations for HB 6545 come from?
The amount needed for the initial implementation of this Act shall be charged against the
current years appropriations of the NB-NLUC. Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary
for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the Annual General
Appropriations Act.
7. What is civil societys involvement in the advocacy for the passage of the bill?
In the late 1990s, civil society groups alarmed at the disastrous ways in which a number of
natural calamities affected the country, banded together to form Peoples Alarm. Since then,
the group has been ardently pushing for the passage of the national land use bill into law,
asserting that the lack of a comprehensive national land use policy exacerbates the impact
of disasters. In 2010, it renamed itself to Campaign for Land Use Policy Now (CLUP Now)
to highlight the urgency of enacting a Comprehensive Land Use Policy, without any further
delay. It is a loose multi-sectoral network of 29 organizations representing the concerns of
fisherfolk, farmers, indigenous peoples, urban poor and environmental groups.
8. What is the status of the land use bills in the HOR and the Senate?
During his first State-of-the-Nation address in 2010, President Benigno Aquino III has
already urged Congress to place a national land use policy on its priority list of legislations.
It has since been included in the agenda of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory
Council or LEDAC, indicating the importance of having such a law.
On September 20, 2012, HB 6545, authored by 96 representatives, was approved on Third
Reading by 192 legislators. Meanwhile at the Senate, 22 Senators authored Senate Bill
3091 or an act instituting a national land use policy which was filed in December 2011. The
Committee on Environment, where the bill is lodged, has since been preparing for plenary
discussion. A sponsorship speech was also delivered by Senator Gringo Honasan in
February 2012 to put forward the committee report to the plenary. At the opening of the
3rd regular session of the 15th Congress last July 2012, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile
reiterated in his speech the need to pass SB 3091.

This briefer on House Bill No. 6545 or the National Land Use and Management Act of the
Philippines was prepared by members of the Campaign for Land Use Policy Now (CLUP
Now!).