October 16 - 31, 2016
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
durianrepublic
by JJ Atencio
Not even a hundred days
in office, President Duterte’s
cabinet secretary for agrarian
reform announced a major
economic policy that imposes
a two year moratorium on
the conversion of agricultural
land to non-agricultural uses.
The proposed ban is
almost total. Agricultural land,
no matter how unviable for
planting, cannot be converted
for better uses in industry,
commerce and housing.
While the intentions
are laudable: social justice
for farmers, self sufficency
in food, land to the landless
and inequitable distribution of
wealth, the proposed solution
will create more social and
economic disruptions than
the benefits it intends to
produce.
For starters, it is not
an inclusive policy as it shuts
out so many vital sectors of
the economy and one of the
sectors that will be hit is mass
housing,
When we look at housing
statistics: a 5.7 million housing
backlog, growing at 5% per
A9
HOUSING MATTERS
year
versus an annual supply of
only 250,000 housing units,
you know right away that