NEWS & UPDATES

March 2009

4 Bulacan LGUs to join DOST-SURP project

The province of Bulacan, the municipalities of Balagtas, Santa Maria, and Marilao, and the city of Malolos will participate as pilot areas in the DOST-SURP project “LGU Networking for Sustainable Land Use Planning and Development”. Funds for the research were taken from a P500,000 grant from the Congressional Initiative Allocation of former Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. The grant was also used to purchase much-needed computers and other equipment for the SURP.

On March 2, 2009, representatives from the local planning and development offices of the local governments met with UP SURP Research and Publications representatives, headed by Dr. David Leonides T. Yap, to discuss said project, which is implemented by the SURP Research and Publications Division in partnership with the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) – Department of Science and Technology (DOST).  The project seeks to establish an information network with local government units which will serve as a feedback mechanism to the academe, which can then use this in formulating land use planning models and procedures for instruction and training purposes that are more responsive to concerns encountered by LGUs in Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) implementation.

Bulacan was proposed as the pilot area primarily because many representatives from the provincial, municipal, and city planning offices have undergone training or graduate courses at UP SURP and will thus be familiar with data the UP SURP will be looking for. In addition, the various typologies of cities/municipalities, i.e., agricultural, coastal, watershed, industrial, and urbanized areas represented in Bulacan will prove useful when replicating the project in other LGUs.

Project outputs include a working paper and documentation of experiences and difficulties connected with CLUP implementation in various planning areas. These will be disseminated to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), and Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB). The project reports will be useful in enhancing planning process models and procedures. 

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