Emerging Results

SIMPLE Emerging Results

Figure 7: Map location of where SIMPLE is currently being implemented

The partnership of GIZ is currently focused on capacity development for the implementation of SIMPLE in 35 municipalities and cities in six provinces (Figure 7) (Leyte, Southern Leyte, Negros Occidental, Antique, Mindoro Oriental, and Occidental Mindoro). Three municipalities have so far finalized their Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP). Seven municipalities in Leyte are currently in the final stages of writing their CLUP and Zoning Ordinance. Additional six municipalities will formulate their CLUPs until the end of 2012. The remaining partners are expected to finalize their plans in 2013.

Western Visayas

Meaningful people’s participation in development planning and decision-making SIMPLE stipulates that development planning is best initiated at the local level with active participation, not only consultation, of the local community and especially marginalized groups, whose needs and interests often tend to be overlooked. Participation means:

Empowered barangays, wider consensus and ownership of projects

Town citizens take part in agreeing in the future land uses and lead in defining their prorities to improve delivery of services to them

The Client Satisfaction Survey conducted by the EnRD Program has shown that the community’s participation in the planning process has increased benefits because all implemented projects were based on people’s priorities

A sound and rational utilization of the IRA resources

Improvements in vital infrastructure: school children having better classrooms and farmers getting better income owing to the improvement of their farm-to-market roads. Local governments are enabled to properly invest into disaster risk reduction using the calamity fund

Improved lives of 48,400 households in 16 municipalities in Leyte Island

Three Municipal governments with approved CLUP-CDP and Zoning Ordinance have begun implementing their plans, programs and activities

Of the 910 supported barangays, 332 have formulated and implemented their barangay plans, mostly with their own funds

Barangays find better ways to access additional external funds (higher local governments, congressional funds, private sector and from non-government organizations). The readiness of local governments for incoming funding is a crucial factor to attract outside sources.

Figure 8: Updating of NAMRIA base maps through the Utilization of SIMPLE to delineate Municipal Boundary of Javier, Leyte

Improved accuracy in data through the use of Geographic Positioning Systems The SIMPLE approach supplied more accurate data to inform municipal and provincial plans. Using GPS, all partners have surveyed their lands often for the first time. This has helped contain or transform boundary conflicts between Barangays and Municipalities and provided accurate data needed for the CLUP.

Base maps often originating from the 1954 maps provided by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) are updated and help municipal governments to understand their spatial conditions and changes. Figure 8 shows the municipal boundary of Javier as it is recorded in the official cadastral map of DENR (green line). However, during ground validation using the SIMPLE approach, the municipal team realized that the actual boundaries found on the ground differ considerably from the offical map (yellow line). All municipalities and cities have encountered such issues. As muncipal governments do not have the mandate to correct boundaries, SIMPLE can be used in coordination with the national agencies to update official maps to provide an accurate data basis for land management.

Zoning Ordinance Implementation – Silago Southern Leyte The formulation of the first fully geo-referenced Zoning Ordinance in the municipality of Silago in Southern Leyte has set new standards for land use planning. This Zoning Ordinance is based on the standard ordinance from HLURB but includes all public lands and municipal waters. Silago’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (2012-2022) did not only define its entire land area and

assigned zones to its use, it has also identified all hazardous areas under risk and established

new protection areas in the forest and the sea. This will improve resilience to natural disasters and climate change and determine the best investment options for land. It will also help in maintaining water supply for agriculture and household use, providing production land for upland farmers and helping fishermen cope with dwindling fish catch. The Zoning Ordinance of Silago can be downloaded from www.enrdph.org.

Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Measures SIMPLE provides vulnerability assessment tools at the community and municipal level to develop solutions for expected climate change impacts by and across ecosystem. Generic measures, such as investments into reforestation, mangrove planting, riverbank stabilization and agricultural and household water supply have been implemented by SIMPLE partners as they do not require detailed climate change analysis, which are often not available at the local level.

Hazard maps helped for example the City of Maasin to identify flood, liquefaction and landslide areas (Figure 9). This prompted Maasin to begin the rehabilitation of its major watershed (Canturing watershed) with 24 barangays and to repair the water pipe system to improve the city’s water supply. This contributed to reducing water-borne diseases. Similarly, the municipality of Tanauan in Leyte used the results of SIMPLE to further reduce damage and losses to lives and properties caused by floods. The municipality has also introduced submersible rice varieties with improved flood resistance. The municipality of Silago has started to revise its building code to prescribe two-story buildings for flood-prone areas. Many towns have begun to change their land use allocations for settlements based on the hazard assessment. The municipality of Abuyog has mobilized its local funds to build bridges to fasten evacuation procedures. Others have transformed their day-care buidlings into evacuation centers and used their calamity fund to buy rescue equipment. The building of local capacity has led to a mind shift of planners and decision-makers from mere compliance with planning regulations to a solid and sound planning and management of disaster risks.

Figure 9: Multi-hazard map of the City of Maasin, Southern Leyte

Figure 10: iTax Map of the Municipality of Tolosa Improved real property tax system LGUs that have incorporated iTax in Leyte show a 33% average tax collection increases with the expansion of their tax base resulting from their improvements in their real property tax system. Tax maps based on cadastral surveys can be easily linked to land use plans and provide a solid foundation for each plan.

Figure 10, shows the tax map of the Municpality of Tolosa. The map shows which tax payer has paid (yellow), is exempted (blue), as well as where the delinquent tax payers are located (red). Such maps can also greatly help to analyse the potential dammage by hazards on properties.

For example, if flood prone areas are overlaid with the assessment value of properties, municipalities can decide in what locations they need to invest into risk reduction measures or where new developments should be planned. Figure 11 shows, for example, that the commercial area of the town Tabontabon in Leyte is most affected by floods. Such information is crucial to further development to reduce damages of disasters on vital infrastructures.

Figure 11: Flood prone areas overlaid with parcellary map in the Municipality of Tabontabon, Leyte