See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/323014388

Current issues of the Philippine land use planning and management system

Technical Report · January 2018

CITATIONS READS

0 3,220

2 authors, including:

Malte Lech
DEval - German Institute for Development Evaluation
4 PUBLICATIONS   1 CITATION   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Philippines: Environment and rural development: From development cooperation to national policies towards achieving the SDGs View project

Megacities - Megachallenge: Informal Dynamics of Global Change View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Malte Lech on 08 February 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Policy Brief 1/2018

CURRENT ISSUES OF THE PHILIPPINE LAND USE

PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Summary
Key planning terms in the Philippines
Land use planning is an instrument that facilitates a fair and
transparent allocation of land resources. Besides land registration Land use planning is the process of identifying zones of
it is a core instrument in the steering of local development regulated land use. It usually comprises a status quo
trajectories and it helps to ensure the sustainable use of vital assessment of the current status of land use, and the setting
resources. However, land use planning is often subject to diverging of priorities for future spatial development and
interests of governmental agencies as well as political will. implementation.
Following spatial plans, development planning identifies
This policy brief explores the structures of land use and priorities and projects for future socio-economic
development planning in the Philippines, highlights the challenges development.
associated with plan implementation in the administrative context Sectoral planning is pursued on topics of limited scope in
and discusses the consequences for socio-economic development. various thematic fields by sectoral agencies. Infrastructure
The following findings lead us to our recommendation towards a planning or water treatment are examples.
consistent national policy framework for land use planning:
•• The complexity of developing Comprehensive Land Use Plans
(CLUPs), their updating, and their subsequent enforcement Introduction: Structure of Land Use and
pose challenges for municipal planning administrations. Development Planning
Training municipal staff is a prerequisite for successful
planning and implementation. Land is the basis for livelihoods. It requires fair and transparent
•• Plan development and implementation should be based on management to allow equal participation and sustainable use.
objective criteria and aligned with peoples’ needs. Decoupling Land use planning is the mechanism to allow this kind of resource
land use planning from the interests of executive officers and management and the reconciliation of diverging interests. It lays
powerful landowners is essential and contributes to the the foundation for controlled urban and rural development.
common good.
•• Land use planning (physical planning) and development In the Philippines, land use planning is hierarchically structured
planning require alignment. The existing mismatch is a and most activities take place at a subnational, particularly at the
consequence of different and overlapping mandates between provincial and municipal level. The planning levels are interlinked:
governmental authorities. lower-tier plans with shorter coverage periods are set to follow
•• Incomplete and outdated cadastral information and the priority setting of larger-scale plans.
shortcomings in sectoral information exchange inhibit the
steps necessary to solve the pressing issue of insecure tenure Municipal land use planning was strengthened by the Republic
rights. Act No. 7360 in 1991 to follow the principle of subsidiarity. Local
•• Cooperation of agencies is currently partial and not yet governments gained responsibilities in a variety of planning fields,
systematic, which hampers a consistent alignment of plans including development and land use planning: (a) the permission
and integration of efforts in the country. to process and approve subdivision plans from the Housing and
Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), (b) the enforcement of the
 DEval Policy Brief 1 /2018

National Building Code from the Department of Public Works land use planning and thus largely excludes residents using these
and Highways including granting or declining of building permits, lands from the provision of municipal public services.
as well as (c) the reclassification of agricultural land from the
Department of Agrarian Reform, except those lands distributed Vertical frictions in the planning system occur, due to the timely
to agrarian reform beneficiaries pursuant to the Republic Act misalignment of different plans and incomplete information
No. 6657 (Republic of the Philippines, 1991). exchange between agencies. The CLUPs are supposed to be
harmonized with the Provincial Development and Physical
The CLUP, the main planning instrument, aims to provide a sound Framework Plan—frequently not sufficiently achieved in either
foundation for managing past, current and projected land use and direction. At the same time, inputs provided by a Barangay
for the allocation of land resource use of the whole territory of a Development Plan, mandated by the Department of the Interior
municipality. Figure 1 shows the embeddedness of the CLUP in and Local Government, are supposed to be incorporated into the
the planning hierarchy. The CLUP is highly dependent on the planning goals of the CLUP. In the absence of a formulated
cooperation of different agencies and is supposed to have primacy Barangay Development Plan, the CLUP can thus only assume
over other sectoral, development and investment plans of barangay planning goals, which reduces the quality of local
governmental agencies at the municipal level. representation.

To address shortcomings of older CLUP guidelines, the HLURB Horizontal frictions occur due to the misalignment of the CLUP
has developed the new enhanced comprehensive land use and the Comprehensive Development Plans (CDP)—both
planning (eCLUP) guidebooks in a joint effort with the Philippine– municipal level plans. In theory, the CLUP is operationalized in
German cooperation. The new guidelines, officially launched in the CDP, followed by integration into investment plans and
late 2015, serve as an improved planning tool for comprehensive transfer into municipal budgeting. This linkage of aligning spatial
and information-driven planning as well as the integration of the and socio-economic development goals with budgetary planning
whole municipal territory. It and aims for a stronger integration often lacks coherence. The process of developing and updating
between spatial and development planning, more coherence in CLUPs is lengthy and the approval process can be extensive.
aligning socio-economic development and land use as well as the Hence, municipal executives often rely solely on the CDP for
linking of development planning and budget allocation (Housing quick project implementation. These inconsistencies in the
and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) Philippines, 2013). planning process leave greater leeway for politicized decisions
While eCLUP makes the planning process more consistent and and ad hoc project prioritizations by powerful executives or local
comprehensive, data collection for the CLUP and the planning political elites, in which, for example, political supporters are
process itself remain highly complex. As emphasized in interviews, more likely beneficiaries of projects and the disbursement of
this requires more personnel and further trainings on CLUP funds. In extreme cases, vested interests of executive officers and
development and updating. influential landowners block the formulation and approval of
zoning ordinances as well as implementation according to plans.
Current Issues of the Land Use Planning and
Management System Main hindering factors for successful CLUP formulation, updating
and implementation are: Frictions and political interference;
In theory, the interplay of plans and hierarchies in the Philippine complexity in planning policies; rivalling mandates; limited
planning system has been well defined for many years. In reality, capacities of local governments; as well as tenure conflicts.
the system has been characterized by multiple policies of Consequently, HLURB estimated in 2012 that 70% of
different authorities with overlapping mandates. municipalities had no or outdated land use plans (GIZ and
ANGOC, 2014). A DEval survey of Municipal Planning and
For example, large portions of Philippine land are classified as Development Offices in the Visayas region in 2016 found that
forest land, and are managed through Forest Land Use Plans while 84 out of 100 municipalities had land use planning
under the mandate of the Department of Environment and documents, only 37 had been approved by the Provincial Land
Natural Resources. This separation of types of land hinders Use Committee. A share that is likely even lower countrywide
municipal planners to integrate this land into comprehensive because almost half of those municipalities received additional
support for CLUP development.
 DEval Policy Brief 1 /2018

Figure 1: System of administrative planning framework of local government and the embeddedness of enhanced land use
planning in the planning hierarchy.

Physical Framework and Comprehensive Land Use Plans Socio-Economic Development Plans Investment Programs

Provincial Development and Provincial Agency Plans Provincial Development

Province Physical Framework Plan and Programs Investment plan
(15 years)

National Economic and

Development Authority mandate

Agency Sectoral plans Department of Environment Office of Civil Defense /

Department of Agriculture /
informs

(selection) and Natural Resources / National Disaster Risk

Department of
Integration of Mines and Geosciences Reduction and
provincial Agrarian Reform
Bureau Management Council
development
objectives
Municipal Sectoral plans City / Municipal Agency
Plans and Programs

Comprehensive Land Use Plan Comprehensive Municipal (annual)

Municipality & Zoning Ordinance Development Plan
Prioritization
Investment Plan
(10 years) (3 years) (1–5 years)
/ Budgeting
Project prioritization

Budget
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Department of the Interior and Harmonization
Board mandate Local Government mandate (LGU-guided)
informs

Barangay captains are part of Municipal Planning Barangay Development Barangay Annual
and Development Council Technical working
Barangay group. Integration of Barangay Development
Plan Investment Plan
Implementation,
Plans goals if they are defined (3 years) review by (1 year)
barangay
Department of the Interior and
development
Local Government mandate council Source: Own figure.
Note: Civil society
participation not displayed.

Tenure Rights and Land Use Planning in the unclear tenancy arrangements (such as customary use) are
Philippines widespread phenomena in the Philippines, despite existing
efforts to implement comprehensive agrarian reform.
Cadastral systems can provide a technical mode to assemble
information about the tenure status of landholders. This Depending on the type of land, different authorities are
information is crucial as the tenure status determines the responsible for titling and the issuing of land rights. While
potential land use for landowners or land dwellers. While the the Department of Agrarian Reform finalizes comprehensive
Philippines do have systems responsible for this collection of agrarian reform, tenure rights on public land are handled
tenure information, the described inconsistencies and differently. For permanent land use on public land, different
shortcomings in the spatial planning system stretch to the authorities operate separate schemes depending on the laws
situation of land classification. The cadastral systems of different governing these lands. Still, in both agrarian reform land areas
planning administrations and sectoral agencies are largely and public lands, non-enforceable tenure status remains a major
disconnected, and exact delineation of different parcels and land obstacle in providing especially small landholders in rural areas
types is often missing. Landholders thus face a multitude of with long-term perspectives and security of investment. Despite
different forms of formal, semi-formal and informal land titles. In substantial efforts by Philippine authorities, the problematic
this void, the use of land, especially by smallholder farms, often tenure situation remains a crucial problem in the nation’s strive
takes place unregulated. Non-tenant farming or land use under to eradicate poverty. While the status of land rights and tenure
 DEval Policy Brief 1 /2018

has a direct impact on the life and welfare of the affected A more consistent and effective Land Use Planning and
population, land rights surprisingly remain separated from the Management System requires:
process of land use planning. •• Stronger coordination of sectoral agencies and
administrations. A national (legal) framework aligning plans
A fair, consistent and comprehensive assignment of tenure and agencies is a necessary step to improve cooperation.
rights and land titles is an unresolved issue in the Philippines. •• Legal provisions that barangay development aspirations are
Rights and titles are excluded from the eCLUP process and not sufficiently reflected in municipal planning. The consistent
sufficiently addressed in the distribution of mandates. integration of the Barangay Development Plans in CLUPs
could contribute to this.
Challenges and the Way Ahead •• Plan development and implementation to be based on
objective criteria and aligned with peoples’ needs. This
Successful implementation of enhanced land use planning depends requires that the vested interests of executive officers and
on the willingness of sectoral agencies and administration to powerful landowners are decoupled from land use planning.
commit to a stronger exchange of planning and tenure information Explicit legal measures should be defined to ensure this
as well as on capacity building for municipal planning personnel. separation and to bind executive officers and legislative
ECLUP introduced reasonable, but complex processes that may officials to goals that serve the common good.
overburden current local planning capacities. Politicization of •• Public accountability. Broad and transparent modes of public
municipal planning and personal interest can jeopardize technical participation are one aspect, but the other is the introduction
planning efforts, ultimately hampering socio-economic of sanctions if execution contradicts plans, for example by
development. Rivalling mandates between the HLURB and the establishing a complaints mechanism and appointing
Department of the Interior and Local Government frequently lead ombudsmen.
to decoupling of the municipal planning process from the •• Further training in municipal planning. Personnel shortages
barangay-level as well as from provincial-level planning. in planning administrations need to be addressed.
•• A safe, consistent and comprehensive system of land use
Land use rights remain excluded from the planning process, rights. The current bureaucratic and legal structure of the
ultimately reducing in municipal development options and Philippines does not provide a functioning and fair tenure
welfare effects. The unresolved issue of tenure rights and land system and thus needs to be revisited.
titles hampers planning efforts and impacts.

References Authors

GIZ and ANGOC (2014), Review of Selected Land Laws and the Governance of Tenure
in the Philippines. Discussion Paper in the context of the Voluntary Guidelines on the
Governance of Tenure (VGGT), GIZ, Bonn/Eschborn.

Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) Philippines (2013), CLUP
Guidebook. A Guide to Comprehensive Land Use Plan Preparation. Volume 1 – The
Planning Process. Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, Manila.

Republic of the Philippines (1991), The Local Government Code of the Philippines,
Dr Malte Lech Dr Gerald Leppert
Republic Act.
Evaluator Senior Evaluator

The German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) is mandated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
to independently analyse and assess German development interventions. Evaluation reports contribute to the transparency of development results and provide
policy-makers with evidence and lessons learned, based on which they can shape and improve their development policies.

German Institute Fritz-Schäffer-Straße 26 · D-53113 Bonn, Germany [email protected]

for Development Evaluation (DEval) Phone +49 228 33 69 07-0 www.DEval.org

View publication stats