Raffy Tulfo, Cynthia Villar clash over supposed conversion of farmlands into subdivisions

Senators Raffy Tulfo and Cynthia Villar engaged in a heated debate over the supposed conversion of agricultural lands into residential and commercial areas.

Tulfo raised this issue during the Senate plenary debates on the Department of Agriculture's proposed 2023 budget which was sponsored and defended by Villar early Thursday morning.

"Lumiliit nang lumiliit po ang ating farmlands. Binibili po ng malalaking developer at ginagawang commercial at residential land. Ano pong ginagawa ng DA tungkol dito?" Tulfo asked.

Responding to Tulfo's question, Villar cited their family business' practice, saying they do not buy agricultural lands as properties to be converted to residential areas because it would be hard for their buyers to resell these houses in the future.

Villar's family business is engaged in real estate and retail industries, among others.

"Alam ninyo, that's our business. I want to tell you that we don't buy agricultural lands in the provinces. Nobody will buy in agricultural lands. We only buy in cities and capital towns," she said.

"Because the buyer of houses, they want also an opportunity that if they're having financial problems, they can resell their houses and you know, it's very hard to sell houses [if it's] not in cities or capital towns. So we limit ourselves in cities and capital towns," she continued.

But Tulfo pursued his point and cited Cauayan, Isabela as an example. He said he has evidence to prove that the farmlands in the said locality have been converted into subdivisions.

This is the reason why he wanted to push for the enactment of the National Land Use Act, he added.

Villar, in response, said Cauayan, Isabela is a city where lands can be invested in real estate to increase its value.

"They allow conversion in cities and capital towns because if they buy your land, they buy it expensive and you can reinvest the money and you will make more money than planting on those lands," she explained.

"It's an investment decision for these people. If somebody will buy your land at a bigger amount, maybe, you can sell it and buy another land that is cheaper somewhere else and build your farm there. You have to understand agriculture as a business also," she added.

Still, Tulfo wanted the DA to give him details on how they plan to address this "bad system" as this has been happening not only in Isabela but in other provinces as well

"Sorry po, madam ha. Hindi lang po sa Cauayan sa Isabela kundi sa marami pong probinsya na marami na pong subdivision na nagsilipana," Tulfo said.

Villar tried to cut him to disagree with his point and said: "Eh where will the people live if you don't build subdivisions?"

"Marami pong mga lugar na pwedeng pagtayuan ng subdivision. 'Wag lang po i-takeover ang mga farms. Kung minsan 'yung mga farmers dahil sila ay naghihikahos, they are taken advantage of," Tulfo replied.

The neophyte lawmaker then factored in the Rice Tariffication Act which, he said, pushes the small farmers to sell their farmlands because they are not benefitting from the law.

Villar, who authored the law, defended the RTL and said it was enacted in 2018 because the price of rice rose to P50 to P60 per kilo and it made then-President Rodrigo Duterte "unpopular."

Apart from this, Villar said the law was passed because the Philippines failed to make its rice production competitive 25 years after the country signed the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

"We signed that WTO in 1995 and they gave us 25 years to be competitive but we failed to be competitive after 25 years," she said.

"If we don't liberalize the importation of rice, they will bring down our credit rating and we have plenty of loans abroad and we have to pay higher interests for those loans so it will be a loss to the Philippine government," she added.

Villar said she is not feeling guilty about passing the law as the tariffs from the RTL are being given to small rice farmers.

"I don't feel any guilt to the small farmers. All the money that came from the Rice Tariffication Law were given to the small farmers owning two hectares and below," she said.

Villar said under the law, P10 billion of the tariffs go to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, of which P5 billion for mechanization, P3 billion for seeds, P1 billion for loans, and P1 billion for training.

Anything above the P10 billion will be given to the rice farmers owning two hectares and below.

Around 1.6 million small rice farmers will get P5,000 each from the excess tariff collection, she added.

Still, Villar said residential and commercial areas are needed to improve the quality of lives of the people.

"It’s not the amount of farmlands. It’s the efficiency of using these farmlands," she said.

"Alam ninyo 'pag maganda ang seeds mo at mechanized ka, even with smaller area of farmland, you can do better and earn more," she added.

Villar said there is a need to change the current model of agriculture in the country.

Tulfo suggested giving the farmers capital to mechanize and upgrade their farming methods so they will not sell their farmlands to land developers.

Again, Tulfo raised the need for the National Land Use Act.

“Hindi ko po alam kung bakit hanggang ngayon, apat na presidente na po ang dumaan at hindi pa rin po ito maipasa-pasa. Hindi ko po alam kung bakit. Your guess is as good as mine” he said.

Villar said each local government unit has already crafted a land use plan.

"The power of determining the implementation of the land use is with the local government. You will remove it from the local government and transfer it to the national government? Do you think that is better?" she asked.

Tulfo said it is better for the national government to handle the national land use plan.

But Villar told Tulfo that not everyone agrees with him.

The debate between the two senators continued to escalate, prompting Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to suspend the session to pacify the situation.

Upon the resumption of session, Tulfo apologized over the heated debate but Zubiri said he only suspended the deliberations to remind his colleagues to address the presiding officer to avoid heated exchanges.

Tulfo ended his interpellation and said he will just deliver a privilege speech on the National Land Use Act.

Tulfo and Villar also butted heads over the issue on Masungi Georeserve during the plenary deliberations on the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the earlier part of the session.—AOL, GMA Integrated News