Land use plan still lacking in Cordillera

SEVERAL local governments do not have a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (Clup), which could help avert disasters.

Interior and Local Government assistant regional director Jonathan Leusen Jr. said only 68 percent of the region’s municipalities has their own Comprehensive Land Use Plans.

He said a city without a comprehensive land use plan remains in a “state of calamity,” stressing the possibility of many settlements situated in danger zones.

National Economic Development Authority (Neda) regional director Leonardo Quitos said these land use plans are very important in planning communities.

The plans are reviewed meticulously by planning experts, local government councils and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, he said.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau OIC-Director Faye Apil said with the onset of several catastrophic calamities, several local governments have become cognizant of the importance of incorporating their geohazard maps into their comprehensive land use maps and in their disaster plans.

She said planning officers are now regularly visiting their office to obtain copies of the geohazard maps to determine vulnerability of some settlements to disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and landslides.

In Baguio City alone, Apil said more than 50 percent of the total land is classified as areas of high susceptibility to landslides.

The provinces of Benguet and Mountain Province, she said, has among the highest landslide susceptibility in the country, which is why communities and housing projects should carefully be referred to existing Clups and geohazard maps to become resilient to disasters.