Senator Raffy Tulfo has vowed to fast-track the passage of the long-pending National Land Use Act (NLUA) in the Senate, aiming to finally turn the measure into law.

Tulfo is the newly-appointed Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change. It was previously held by Senator Camille Villar.

The National Land Use Act is a proposed legislation that seeks to establish a unified national policy on the proper use of land across the country. It aims to protect farmers and indigenous peoples from land grabbing, ensure orderly land development in the Philippines, and safeguard environmentally critical areas.

A measure on NLUA was first filed during the 9th Congress in 1994, and since then, various versions have been repeatedly refiled in succeeding Congresses. However, it has yet to be enacted into law, remaining pending in the Senate committee for decades.

“Sa ilalim ng aking pamumuno, sisiguruhin kong wala nang makakapigil sa pagsasabatas ng National Land Use Act na deka-dekada nang hindi maisabatas dahil bagamat nakakalusot sa Lower House, pag-akyat nito sa Senado ay nakabinbin na lamang dahil inuupuan sa Komite ng Environment (Under my leadership, I will ensure that nothing will stand in the way of enacting the National Land Use Act, which for decades has failed to become law. Although it passes in the Lower House, once it reaches the Senate it remains pending because it is being sat on by the Committee on Environment),” he said.

“Panahon na para bigyan ng matibay na sandata ang ating mga magsasaka at katutubo laban sa mga ganid na land grabbers na walang habas na sumisira sa kanilang kabuhayan sa pamamagitan ng pag-reclassify ng mga agricultural lands patungo sa residential, commercial, at mixed use na gamit para sa benepisyo ng mga naglalakihang mga kumpanya (It is time to provide our farmers and indigenous peoples with strong protection against greedy land grabbers who recklessly destroy their livelihoods by reclassifying agricultural lands into residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments for the benefit of giant corporations),” he emphasized.