Bill extending foreign investors鈥� land lease to 99 years gets House nod
MANILA, Philippines — Proposals to increase the aggregate period of lease for foreign investors to 99 years have been approved by the House of Representatives on the third and final reading.
House Bill (HB) No. 10755, a consolidation of four bills, was approved after 175 lawmakers present voted in the affirmative, three in the negative, and two abstentions.
If the bill is signed into law, Section 4 of Republic Act No. 7652 or the Investors Lease Act will be amended to allow a lease period not exceeding 99 years — up from the previous maximum allowable period of 75 years.
Before, the maximum lease contract for foreign investors was for a period of 50 years, which is renewable once for a period not exceeding 25 years.
READ:
Aside from this proposed amendment, HB No. 10755 also includes agricultural use of land as a category for foreign investors’ long-term lease contracts.
Article continues after this advertisementAlso, foreign investors — should the proposal be enacted — would now need to have an “approved or registered investment” under Republic Act No. 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act. The lease contracts would also have to be registered with the province or the city where the land involved is located.
Article continues after this advertisementAccording to House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez — principal author of HB No. 10755 which was a priority legislation of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) — the proposal addresses concerns from investors about short rental periods.
“We hope they would be satisfied with the proposal. We hope it would attract new foreign investments and encourage existing investors to expand their businesses, thereby creating more job and income opportunities for our people and sustaining our economic growth,” Romualdez said.
“We want to be competitive regionally and globally in terms of enticing foreign investments,” he added.
Aside from Romualdez, the following key House officials also backed the bill:
- Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr.
- Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe
- Senior Deputy Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos
- Tingog party-list Reps. Yedda K. Romualdez and Jude Acidre
Pushback
Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, however, opposed the bill, saying that the inclusion of agricultural land only shows that the government prioritizes foreign interest over local workers and farmers.
“Its proposal to prolong the aggregate land lease period of foreign investors from 75 years to 99 years — which will now cover agricultural lands and patrimonial properties of the State that are supervised by investment promotion agencies (IPAs) — is a clear manifestation of how our current government continues to prioritize foreigners’ and big businesses’ and corporations’ interests over our local farmers and workers, over our genuine economic development,” Brosas said.
“Paulit-ulit nating binigyang-diin sa mga nagdaang pagdinig na napakahabang panahon na nito — katumbas ng ilang henerasyong pag-upa sa lupa, higit pa sa global average life expectancy na 73 years,” she added.
(We have repeatedly stressed during the past hearings that this is a long time — it matches several generations’ rent of land, and it even exceeds the global average life expectancy of 73 years.)
According to Brosas, the bill would also monopolize foreigners’ use of local lands, which she believes should be for the benefit of Filipinos, not outsiders.
“Mr. Speaker, beyond all the legalisms and technicalities, malinaw sa atin na in essence and in practice, magbibigay-daan ang panukalang batas na ito para sa malaya at monopolisadong paggamit at pagkontrol ng mga dayuhan sa ating lupain sa napakahabang panahon,” she said.
(Mr. Speaker, beyond all the legalities and technicalities, it is clear in essence and in practice that this proposed bill will facilitate unrestricted and monopolistic foreign control over our land for an extended period.)
“And not only does this bill aim to expand the aggregate land leasing period of foreign investors, but it also expands their leasehold rights by allowing long-term lease contracts to be pledged as a guarantee for a loan, and by permitting leaseholders to sublet the leased land,” she added.
