YEAR 1 QUARTER 3

The second plenary meeting the TWG was held on July 14, 2022 to present the summary of the contents of the draft WILUP guidelines which was also sent to the members for initial review. Participants included representatives from DENR, DA, DHSUD, DILG, OCD, DPWH, NCIP and CODE-NGO. Dr. Rex Cruz also presented a matrix that he is currently working on, showing the different planning activities for integrated R2R including the specific tasks, output expected, unit of analysis and references. Other issues tackled include the risk assessment for all the river basins developed by the DPWH, the new Memorandum Circular No. 2021-010 of DHSUD where the CDRA process was revised and simplified, and how the R2R framework will be applied in the preparation of ADSDPP.

Last July 7, 2022, The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development  of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARD) hosted the “2nd PoliSiyensa Panel Talk” featuring two studies related to Watersheds and Resiliency, one of which is WILUP. The other project is a completed policy study led by Dr. Rex Victor O. Cruz, WILUP’s Watershed Expert and is entitled Policy Studies and Development to promote the Resiliency of Philippine Watersheds; this project is the prelude to WILUP wherein the WILUP answers the key findings of the Watershed Policy Study. Both projects are funded by DOST-PCAARD under the Socio-Economics Research Division (SERD).

In the latter part of the event, Dr. Cruz as the expert on the WILUP Advocacy Project discussed WILUP as a project which aims to enhance the robust implementation of the Ridge to Reef (R2R) or watershed ecosystem management (WEM) approach to integrated area land use planning (WILUP). He explained that WILUP is designed to address the gaps on policy, capacity building, datasets, and accountability of LGUs to implement a comprehensive land-use plan as a framework for the development of CDPs (comprehensive development plans) and most of the prescribed sectoral plans. He recognized that the collaboration and active participation of National Government Agencies (NGAs) including NEDA, DENR, DILG, DA, NCIP, CCC, HLURB and other NGAs as well as of other stakeholders and experts are vital to the pursuits of WILUP to promote more robust implementation of the R2R/WEM-based comprehensive land-use planning. He also  mentioned WILUP’s pilot implementation of the R2R/WEM-based land use planning in Los Baños, Laguna, and San Gabriel, La Union that will provide a platform where other LGUs can observe and share in learning process. 

A plenary meeting was held with the Advisory Board members on June 15, 2022. Most of the topics discussed were on capacity-building activities for the stakeholders, steps in the CLUP Formulation and WILUP Guidelines, the context of Mandana’s ruling in the project, and problems encountered in the pilot sites regarding the new Local Chief executives. Meanwhile, the policy instrument to be used in institutionalizing the WILUP guidelines is yet to be determined after further roundtable discussions.