B. The
Establishment of the Institute of Planning:
1960s
In 1962, UN Expert Morris Juppenlatz was invited by the
government to give advice and assistance on low-cost
housing. His ideas found expression in a bill which
proposed to establish a National Planning, Housing and
Financing Authority. In 1964, House Bill 9419 was
introduced in the now defunct Philippine Congress which
provided for the establishment of a Philippine Center for
Urban Studies within the proposed Authority. The bill
passed the Lower House in 1964 but it, unfortunately, did
not progress any further.
In March of 1963, Carlos P. Romulo, then President of U.P., sought
U.N. assistance for the establishment of a center for urban
and regional planning within the
Institute
of Public Administration. This led to another U.N. mission
here in 1964 by two Australian planners,
Prof.
Dennis Winston and Mr. Walter G. Faithfull.
Professor Dennis Winston, Head of the Department of Town and
Country Planning of the University of Sydney, and Mr. Walter
G. Faithfull were tasked, under the U.N. Technical
Assistance Board (UNITAB), to assist the government in
drafting a proposal for a U.N. Special Fund assistance for
the establishment of such a center. While in the country,
Mr. Faithfull was engaged in the training of senior
government officials in urban and regional planning, as well
as in industrial estate planning.
In 1965, upon the approval of Dean Ramos, Mr. Faithfull together with
Professor Federico B. Silao, then connected with the
Institute of Public Administration, prepared and submitted a request for
Special Fund assistance to the U.N. Earlier that year, the
Fifth Congress of the Republic of the
Philippines had passed Republic Act 4341 creating the
Institute of Planning within the University of the
Philippines.
The Act was to implement a national policy to strengthen the
capability of national and local government agencies and
private organizations to find solutions to their development
problems, to improve human settlements and their
environments through comprehensive integrated planning, and
for these reasons, to develop and make available a pool of
capable professional urban and regional planners. In
addition, the Act authorized the University to appropriate
funds for the construction of buildings and purchase of
necessary equipment and facilities to establish the
Institute. It also created an Advisory Council to advice the
Institute on technical and policy matters.
This Act was signed into law by President Diosdado P. Macapagal in June
1965. A few months later, on
October 22, 1965, the U.P. Board of Regents approved the establishment of
the
Institute
of Planning. The Board appointed Dean Oscar Baguio of the
College of Engineering as the Institute's Acting Director,
and selected the members of the Advisory Council, which was
chaired by no less than then-U.P. President Carlos P. Romulo.
The Board vested upon the Institute the following functions
and responsibilities:
1.
Conducting graduate training courses in planning to produce
professional planners capable of assuming senior positions
in all sectors of the community;
2.
Conducting short training courses, seminars and workshops in
planning for interested groups coming from the public and
private sectors;
3.
Conducing relevant researches to expand knowledge or solve
problems related to comprehensive development planning with
emphasis on settlement patterns and environmental planning;
4.
Preparing and publishing informational and educational
materials, textbooks, and training aids oriented to local
needs;
5.
Providing consultant advice and technical assistance to both
public and private organizations; and
6.
Establishing a reference service or central repository of
documents, books, journals, reports, plans, research data,
bibliographies and other reading materials for the use of
students, public officials and other authorized persons.
7.
As the only graduate school in urban and regional planning
in the country today, the U.P. School of Urban and Regional
Planning (SURP), as the U.P.-I.P. is now called, has been at
the forefront of development planning efforts since its
inception. This it has achieved through its four-fold
mandate of graduate education, research, training and
extension services.
While
awaiting support from the United Nations' Special Fund
Assistance, the University of the Philippines turned to the
Colombo Plan Fellowship Program for the graduate education
of its faculty and staff members in Town and Country
Planning and in Regional and Community Planning. In May
1965, President Romulo requested the Department of Foreign
Affairs to allocate 12 Colombo Plan fellowships to the
University for the Staff Development Program of the
Institute of Planning.
II. MAJOR THRUSTS AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
F. Dr.
Candido A. Cabrido, Jr.: 2007-present
