Lack of expertise stalls local government units’ land use policies

It has been more than three decades since the landmark Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code was formulated to create a responsive government structure through a system of decentralization, with local government units (LGUs) given more powers, authority, responsibilities, and resources.

A major instrument in this government structure that LGUs—particularly municipalities and cities—are required to produce is the comprehensive land use plan (CLUP), meant to promote the wise use of finite land resources.

Through the direction of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), LGUs are instructed to prepare a CLUP as well as the accompanying major documents such as the zoning ordinance (ZO) and comprehensive development plan (CDP).

In practice, the CLUP covers a cycle of 10 years while the CDP covers a medium-term period of six years. Sadly, it has been observed that the processes of CLUP formulation and updating have historically been slow—sometimes taking as much as 18 months due to the LGUs’ lack of expertise. From my observation, CLUP completion is actually possible in about six months if done with urgency and efficiency.

The following DHSUD data compiled up to September 2024 still shows a less than satisfactory CLUP formulation status among a total of 1,634 LGUs: 651 updated (40 percent); 837 for updating (51 percent), and 146 without CLUP (9 percent). I have also observed that in recent years, the CLUP formulation process has been made more difficult and slower for LGUs by additional government guidelines, such as the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction-climate change adaptation (DRR-CCA), and sustainable land management schemes in the plan.

LGUs are simply overwhelmed by these and other requirements, considering their lack of qualified staff and overload of multiple tasks that are made more difficult by political interference and the complexity of government planning policies. It is no wonder then that a Department of Finance study done in 2021 has revealed the following large percentages of LGUs still dependent in varying degrees on national tax allotments (NTAs), formerly called internal revenue allotments or IRAs: provinces, 79 percent; municipalities, 75 percent, and cities, 38 percent.

Without the CLUP, it would be difficult to locate, fund, and implement particularly land and water use policies, priority programs, and projects that have been identified by the planning process, and which are supposed to wean the LGUs from their NTA dependency to enable them to accelerate the country’s socioeconomic development.

This weakness is considered to be a major contributor to the high incidence of poverty, inequality, and unemployment in many parts of the country. Thus, there is a need for government to provide a packaged assistance on the whole cycle of CLUP preparation with corresponding funding to fully capacitate LGUs, especially in terms of attracting income-generating businesses and projects. In fact, there have been planning assistance programs offered in the past by such agencies as the National Coordinating Council for Town Planning, Housing and Zoning in the 1970s; Human Settlements Regulatory Commission in the 1980s, and the DILG Local Planning Program in the 1990s.

There is a need to revive these programs on a well-organized, comprehensive, and well-funded manner that would effectively capacitate the LGUs and their provinces on a long-term basis. As part of this program, maybe the DHSUD, in collaboration with the DILG, can set up a special agency staffed with competent planners whose sole function will be to proactively monitor ongoing planning exercises, particularly of low-class towns within each province in order to fast track the DHSUD’s CLUP review and approval process.

Meliton B. Juanico