Striking a balance: Agricultural interests vis-à-vis housing concerns in the National Land Use Act

This publication is a lobby material to advocate the passage of the National Land Use Act. It examines the seemingly conflicted need for food and housing in the country. The writer – Carmina Flores-Obanil – describes that from 1982 to 1997 massive land conversions in the urban fringes of Bulacan and Cavite attribute to policies encouraging the expansion of industries in rural areas. The paper recommends that government intervention through a national physical framework plan is needed, not only to halt the expansion of development into prime agricultural lands deemed protected by current land laws, but more importantly, systematically balancing the need for food and shelter through a participatory and strategic allocation of our country’s land resource.