The United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) brought together the architects, and the private and public sectors in a tripartite conference organized annually called the Balangkasan on January 12 at the XU Little Theater.  This year’s conference aspired to help Region 10 recover from the devastation wrought by typhoon Sendong through remote sensing geo-hazard assessment.

“The tragedy that hit the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan was a disaster waiting to happen,” said Ramon Mendoza, president of UAP.

UAP invited Dr Nathaniel Bantayan, professor and administrator of the GIS laboratory at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, as resource speaker. Bantayan pushed for collaborative natural resource governance to buffer the impact if not prevent the devastating effects of typhoons such as Sendong. He highlighted collaboration and shared responsibility of LGUs utilizing the same watershed boundary, and urged them to protect, conserve and restore forests in the watersheds for water integrity and sustainability.
Bantayan also mentioned the loss of forest cover in Iligan which underscores the need for sustainable forest and land use for clean, sufficient and regulated water flows.

“We need activities that are sustainable in nature,” said Bantayan referring to sustainable livelihoods and food security.

Further, Bantayan said that the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) must stop being a compliance document and must function as a planning document. In order to develop risk resilient communities, he proposed building a GIS database for ecological profiling and hazard mapping, building capacities, building new standards and building partnerships.

While Bantayan focused on protecting watersheds in the uplands, Andres F Ignacio, director for planning and geomatics manager of the Environmental Science for Social Change, stressed on the importance of the lowlands, particularly the increase in population density in cities.

“Where is our population located?” he asked accentuating the need to map out high risk areas and to consider the whole flood plain, not just the stream banks, in measuring safe zones.

“It cannot be business as usual anymore. We’ve hurt so many already,” Ignacio said.

In the same light, immediate past president of the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Association Inc – Cagayan de Oro and current president of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association – Cagayan de Oro Val Sta Ana echoed the importance of a zonal plan to guide private sector investments. He also affirmed the crucial role of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) in implementing the CLUP and giving permits to developers.

“The Housing Board has a very critical role in allowing communities to live [in which] areas,” Sta Ana said.
Charito Raagas, regional director of HLURB-10, espoused a new CLUP which will be ready in six months and incorporates climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

As the CLUP is still being developed, it was suggested for UAP to be part of the revision of the CLUP and for the organization to be included in the Local Development Council of Cagayan de Oro.

Several building and housing designs were also presented by Ray Gabitan, UAP national secretary, to serve as models of weather resilient structures. The designs came from the winners of the 2011 Design Against the Elements (Date) Global Architectural Competition.