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Minority wants thorough attention on land lease deals
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Posted on Jan 01 2005
The minority bloc in the House of Representatives is apprehensive of possible “rigged” public consultations on land lease extension initiatives.
Minority bloc designated spokesman Rep. Ray Tebuteb said the issue “is extremely sensitive” such that it demands a full-blown public hearing.
“We want to clearly see the pulse of the general public, not of a few. The process of public consultation must be fully satisfied. We can’t just come up with a ready recommendation here,” said Tebuteb.
Tebuteb noted that two land lease initiatives were up for passage in the last session.
“They were ready to pass it. It was calendared,” he said.
Minority lawmakers object to the passage of Senate Legislative Initiative 14-3, which seeks to extend land leases of private land from 55 years to 75 years, as well as House Legislative Initiative 14-10, which would extend public land leases from 25 years to 50 years.
The House leadership had immediately moved to defer any action on the initiatives following the minority’s opposition. It said that the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations, chaired by Rep. Jesus Lizama, would conduct public hearings to allow people speak up on the issue.
“The leadership treats this matter as a priority. This will probably be taken up this month,” House leadership spokesman Charles Reyes Jr. said yesterday.
He said the proposals, as well as the minority bloc’s report, have been referred for review to Lizama’s committee.
“They’re planning about the public hearings, that’s why they decided to defer action on the proposals. They want to get more feedback from the public,” said Reyes.
The opposition said that extending the term leases is tantamount to selling the indigenous land. It said that the initiatives, introduced separately by Sen. Diego Songao and Rep. Martin Ada, would eventually disenfranchise indigenous residents.
