Here are 10 Frequently Asked Questions about Comprehensive Land Use Plans!
More articles on Comprehensive Land Use Plans in the Philippines
What is a Comprehensive Land Use Plan?
In the Philippine context, a comprehensive land use plan (CLUP) is a
“rational approach of allocating available land resources as equitably as possible among competing user groups and for different functions consistent with the development plan of the area… .”
(Section 3, Republic Act 7279)
It is one of two documents mandated by the Local Government Code (Republic Act 7160) that must be prepared by local government units in the Philippines. The other is the Comprehensive Development Plan.
Read: Formulating Comprehensive Land Use Plans in the Philippines
Why is a Comprehensive Land Use Plan important?
With the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the local government unit:
- realizes the local government vision for its land resources
- allocates available land resources for different sectors of the population
- communicates the plans of the local government unit
Read: 3 reasons why CLUPs are important
How we completed the Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Tiwi
How is a Comprehensive Land Use Plan different from other local plans required from local government units?
The Comprehensive Land Use Plan is a document that encompasses the whole territory of the local government unit.
The municipal territory includes municipal land area and municipal waters. No area in the municipality must be left unplanned.
The DILG estimates that an LGU creates around 33 sectoral and thematic plans mandated by national government agencies. These plans typically cover only portions and certain concerns of the municipality.
An updated Comprehensive Land Use Plan can be a resource hub for other local plans.
What is the process in completing a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP)?
Read: Formulating Comprehensive Land Use Plans in the Philippines
The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (now the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development) prescribes a 12-step process for the formulation of a Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
Being an iterative process, the Comprehensive Land Use Planning process is cyclical. The results of the monitoring and evaluation must be used as input into another cycle of the process.
What principles and approaches are considered in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan?
Principles and approaches important to the formulation of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan are:
- the watershed approach,
- inclusive and expansive governance,
- the co-management principle,
- gender responsiveness and sensitivity,
- bottom-up approach, and
- top-to-bottom approach.
Supplemental guidelines from the HLURB (now DHSUD) also mandate that CLUPs mainstream two themes:
- disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation
- sustainable land management
Download CLUP Guidebooks from DHSUD…
How can local government units formulate and update Comprehensive Land Use Plans regularly?
Being the Chief Executive, the mayor is the key official for ensuring that Comprehensive Land Use Plans are formulated and updated regularly.
An updated and accessible database is also essential for regularly updated local plans in the Philippines.
Here are my past projects in local government planning…
How many years should a Comprehensive Land Use Plan in the Philippines cover?
At present, the typical CLUP in the Philippines covers 8 to 10 years.
Serote (2004) recommends a 30-year planning period with revisions every six years. In 2000s, the population of the Philippines was estimated to double after around 30 years.
The doubling time of the population of a local territory is a convenient alternative for the planning period before a full revision of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (Serote 2004).
How long is the process of formulating a Comprehensive Land Use Plan?
The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board provides a sample Comprehensive Land Use Planning schedule that covers 18 months.
The process may extend to a longer period because of issues in the review and approval of the CLUP (CLUP Step 10).
In my professional experience, I was involved in the Tiwi CLUP process that only covered 4 months from Step 1 (Organize) to Step 8 (Drafting the Zoning Ordinance).
How much will a Comprehensive Land Use Plan process cost a local government unit?
Cost is a big consideration for local governments in updating their Comprehensive Land Use Plans and Comprehensive Development Plans.
Here are approved budget of contracts previously posted on PhilGEPS for consulting services on the CLUP and other local plans.
For example, the Municipality of Anao in Tarlac, a 5th class municipality, posted a PhilGEPS request for proposal amounting to P500,000 for CLUP and CDP updating.
Formulating the Comprehensive Land Use Plan is often done through hiring external consultants.
Besides consultant fees, additional costs may be incurred for travel expenses, food for workshops and meetings, and the daily opportunity cost of officials involved in the planning process.
Here are my past projects in local government planning…
Which Philippine local government units have outdated Comprehensive Land Use Plans?
A Comprehensive Land Use Plan is considered updated when it covers at least the current year.
Data from the DHSUD suggests that of the LGUs in the Philippines (1,634 per LUZIS),
- 580 LGUs have updated CLUPs (35%),
- 894 LGUs have CLUPs for updating (55%),
- 160 have no CLUPs (10%).
In my own opinion, a CLUP is updated when it covers at least the next three years. This is because updating a CLUP, when maximized for participation, takes at least 18 months.
Who monitors the compliance of local government units in updating CLUP?
The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development is the “sole and main planning and policy-making, regulatory, program coordination, and performance monitoring entity for all housing, human settlement and urban development concerns.”
Three CLUP status monitoring dashboards are available online:
- The LUZIS CLUP Monitor hosted by DHSUD
- This one by Richmond Manuel on Google Data Studio, based on 2020 data.
- This other one by EnP. Oshean Lee Garonita, though using 2019 data.
What are penalties for local officials of a local government unit without an updated Comprehensive Land Use Plan?
Local officials of LGUs with outdated plans can be subjected to administrative cases.
The most recent deadline for compliance to updated Comprehensive Development Plans and Comprehensive Land Use Plans was December 10, 2021 (DILG MC 2021-049).
The Circular stated that officials that failed to comply will be subjected to appropriate administrative case…pursuant to Section 60 of the Local Government Code.
Section 60. Grounds for Disciplinary Actions. – An elective local official may be disciplined, suspended, or removed from office on any of the following grounds…
(c) Dishonesty, oppression, misconduct in office, gross negligence, or dereliction of duty
Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160)
What are important references on Comprehensive Land Use Plans for Filipino Environmental Planners?
- Comprehensive Land Use Plan Guidebooks and Frameworks
- Republic Act No. 7160 – Local Government Code
- Top Websites for Resources in Local Government Planning in the Philippines
Do you have others questions about Comprehensive Land Use Plans?
Comment your questions below or leave a feedback!
5 replies on “Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUP): Frequently Asked Questions (UPDATED February 2023!)”
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