A team from the Environment and Land Use Division (ELUD) of the Ministry of Human Settlements and Development, the Housing Arm of the BARMM, once again paved the way for the Local Government Units (LGUs) of Lanao del Sur in formulating and updating their respective Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUP), Zoning Ordinances (ZO), and Geographical Information System (GIS) maps at the Ragayan Training Center, MARADECA Inc., Marantao, Lanao del Sur, on July 25-28, 2022.

The LGUs actively participated throughout the 4-day activity, and by the end were unanimous on the opinion that the technical support from the MHSD was a great contributory factor to their focus on the CLUP processes.

Participants were first reminded of the LGU’s legal mandates to formulate two mother plans, including the CLUP, presented by Abdul Halim A. Abdullah, Housing and Homesite Regulation Officer (HHRO) IV, followed by an overview on the Enhanced CLUP Guidebook presented by Ali M. Macadaag, HHRO I.

ELUD Chief Janice-zah M. Macapantar, EnP, introduced participants to the 12-step processes for the formulation of CLUP and the sectoral studies utilized for the write-ups, where the necessary data to contextualize each process were available and prepared beforehand by each respective LGU.

Interactive mapping lectures were shared by Marjan P. Saminodden, Project Development Assistant, such as an Introduction to Quantum GIS, Spatial Framework for the Philippines and Getting Familiar with QGIS Interface, and an input workshop on Georeferencing a Raster Image with and without known coordinates.

ELUD Chief Macapantar formally began the program reminding the participants on the importance of CLUP for the development of their LGU.

“We are planning not just for compliance, we are planning for the future generations,” she said.

Abdulrashid Bin Abdulrashid, HHRO IV, explained that the infrastructure sector in land use planning is significant to establish linkages and provide access to economic opportunities and development.

The first cluster of LGUs from Lanao del Sur received the same training last June 13-16, at the same venue.

Another batch of LGUs who have yet to formulate or require updating of their CLUPs, ZOs, and GIS maps from Lanao del Sur are expected to receive the same training-workshop later this year.