The leadership of the House of Representatives pushed for the enactment of a bill that offers foreign investors a lease on private lands for 99 years, almost double the present term of 50 years.
Speaker Martin Romualdez, principal author of House Bill (HB) 10755 said the proposed 99-year lease addresses the concern of foreign capitalists regarding the shorter rental period under the present law, which is 50 years with renewal for an additional 25 years.
The House approved the bill on third and final reading by a 175-2 vote. It is part of the measures discussed in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
“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.
The seasoned lawmaker said the proposal also aligns with the open-door policy of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for legitimate foreign capital and with existing practices in many countries in the region.
“We want to be competitive regionally and globally in terms of enticing foreign investments,” Romualdez noted.
HB 10755 encourages foreign investments consistent with the constitutional mandate to conserve and develop the nation’s patrimony.
It declares that the state adopts a flexible and dynamic policy on the granting of long-term lease on private lands to foreign investors for the establishment of industrial estates, factories, assembly or processing plants, agro-industrial enterprises, land development for industrial or commercial use, tourism, agriculture, agroforestry, ecological conservation, and other similarly productive endeavors.
It also seeks to ensure the reliability of investors’ lease contracts to guarantee stability and return of investment. The bill added a new provision that defines the term “private lands.”
It shall mean “those lands which have been segregated from the general mass of the public domain and distributed by any form of gratuitous or onerous grant by the state, such as a deed of sale, adjustment title, special grant, or possessory information title converted into a record of ownership.”
The definition “shall include patrimonial properties of the state owned, held, controlled, supervised, managed, or administered by investment promotion agencies as definite under Republic Act 11534, otherwise known as the Corporate Recovery and Incentives for Enterprises or CREATE Act.”
House pushes bill granting 99-year land lease for foreign investors
