PLANNING 423

Principles of Urban and Regional Planning

Module 03
Urban Planning in the Philippines Part 1

(Photo taken from the book

Parks for a Nation: The Rizal
Park and 50 Years of the
National Parks Development
Committee c/o Arch. Paolo
Alcazaren)

History of Urban Planning in The Philippines

1. Pre-Spanish
• Barangay Communities; Coastal Communities; Chinese/Malay residents; Fortification;
Trade and Commerce

Pre-Hispanic Filipinos were predominantly migrants of Malayan and Indonesian stock.

The communities settled as separate kinship groups within their defined territories that
obtained the character of villages.

Early Filipinos had well-organized settlements, were literate and cultured, had forms of
government, and had pre-existing customary laws in AD 900, many centuries before
Ferdinand Magellan's discovery of the islands in 1521 (Postma 1992). By the time the
Spaniards were preparing for the 1571 conquest of Luzon starting with Manila, the thriving
community of Manila was estimated to be large consisting of about 4,000 inhabitants
(Guariña 2007).

Houses were scattered singly or in small cluster along river shallow water. Few villages
were becoming what reed termed as supra-barangays. Notable among those were the
settlements of Manila and Cebu. In case of Manila, it already had a homogeneous
population at the Rajah Soliman-a bamboo barricaded town resisting Dutch and Chinese
invaders. It was razed to the ground in the battles between the native and a Spanish
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Exploration in 1570. It was soon to be rebuilt and made the center of Spanish colonial
activities.

2. The Spanish Occupation

• Plaza Complex; colonization; fortification; Christianization; establishment of Forts
throught the Philippines; Fort Santiago, Fort Del Pilar; Fort San Pedro, etc., Galleon
trade; Design of churches and establishment of Catholic schools and colleges.

From a Gamboa-barricaded outpost, Manila turned into Intramuros, a fortified walled city.
As the city took its place in the economic scheme of the galleon trade several patterns of
decentralization and locality concentration came into being south of the city a group of
wealthy Filipinos occupied the settlement of Malate and soon Japanese settlers were
found in San Miguel and Paco. By 1650, approximately 15,000 Chinese occupied Parian,
the settlement relegated to them by the Spaniards more than 7,000 Spaniards lived in
Intramuros and 20,000 Filipinos settled throughout the outlying sectors. Towards the end
of the 19th century, road building programs were initiated by the Spaniards government.
The Manila-Dagupan railway lines was constructed

Urban planning had long been practiced in the Philippines using the city-citadel concept,
where defense plans were prominent, and this is evident in present-day Intramuros and
cities which feature forts (such as Zamboanga City with its Fort Pilar and Cebu City with
its Fort San Pedro).
• Spanish-era planning had spaces with parallel and perpendicular straight streets for
horse-drawn vehicle and foot traffic
• The streets cross each other to form a gridiron (a type of city plan in which streets
are perpendicular to each other and form a grid), with a core square or rectangle
forming a central plaza that houses the cathedral and the municipal hall or city hall.
• Around the edifice revolved the residence of the Spaniards, the principalia and the
masses. The clergy learned from the resettlement projects in Hispanic America that
compact villages provided a framework for rapid Christian induction and societal
organization.

1880 - urban sprawl was already being experienced in Manila and a sort of mass transport
system that would also serve areas outside Intramuros was deemed needed.
1882 - investments for the first mass transport system for an urban area in the Philippines
began with the founding of the La Compania de Tranvias de Filipinas.
1885 to 1889 - the company constructed a network of five lines of tranvia (streetcars or
omnibuses), with a central station outside the walls of Intramuros. Tranvias in four
of the lines were horse-drawn and one line ran on steam (Satre 1998).

3. American Occupation
• Infrastructure development; roads and bridges; inspired by the parks development in
the USA; Emphasis on education; Daniel Burnham; Louis Croft, Anderson; socio-
economic planning, trade relations with USA; water supply and drainage; sanitation;
Plan for Manila-Luneta; Baguio-Burnham Park, Tagaytay; Quezon City as a Capital
of the Philippines; Radial and Circumferential road design.
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• National Urban Planning Commission

• Capital City Planning Commission
• Real Property Board
• Massive reconstruction of Metro Manila because of the damage brought about by the
Second World War
• Antonio Kayanan – First Filipino Planner

The American were able to do a lot more than the Spaniards for the physical and political
development of the Philippines in less than 5 decades. The Americans saw the urgent
need for guiding the urban growth and physical development of the country. They
concentrated in planning cities where growth was inevitable.

1904 to 1905 - Daniel Burnham together with Pierce Anderson, surveyed Manila, Baguio
and other Cites. By this time Manila submitted in 1905 included the ff:
1. Development of the waterfront of recreation of parks and parkways so as to
give the proper means of recreation to every quarter of the city;
2. Street system securing direct and easy communication from one district to
another;
3. Location of building sites for various activities;
4. Development of waterways for transportation;
5. Summer resorts

The plan was accepted, and the office of consulting architect was created the following
year by Phil. Commission Act. #1495 The idea is for every resident to be a short walking
distance from a park, places of work, and leisure areas.

Innovations enabled by electricity in the modern world, such as the electric trolley,
reached the Philippines when a concession for building electric power and transportation
networks in Manila was awarded in 1903 to the Manila Electric Railroad and Light
Company (the present-day Meralco).

1913 - nine lines of electric trolleys, which were still called tranvia by 10 commuters, were
operating (Satre 1998).
1930s - as the circumferential-radial road network improved, electric- and gasoline-
powered bus services were introduced.

The adherence to the Burnham Plan in the development and management of urban
Manila and the further development of the tranvia network were cut short by the war.
Manila was the second most devastated city in the world, next to Warsaw in Poland, when
World War II ended in 1945.

4. Post-World War II
Urban mass transport infrastructure development also stopped as World War II put the
tranvia out of business. When the war ended, the need to restore electricity in the city
became the more pressing concern of Meralco and moving people around became the
business of ingenuous Filipinos who transformed numerous army jeeps into four- to six-
seater jitneys (called jeepneys).
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The practice of not following through the comprehensive urban development plans that
were drawn many years before (such as the Burnham Plan) had also taken root, but this
time without the justifiable excuse rendered by war. For instance, the 1941 Harry Frost-
Juan Arellano master plan to make Quezon City the new capital, replacing Manila, was
revived after the war. The plans were revised twice, in 1949 and 1956, and the
government started expropriating and purchasing lands for government offices and public
housing. National government offices were also gradually built in Quezon City.

1946 - Post war planning in the Philippines formally began when the National Urban
Planning Commission (NUPC) was created by President Sergio Osmeňa Sr. by
virtue of Executive Order 98 for the reconstruction of the cities and towns
destroyed during the war.
1947 - the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation (PHHC) replaced the NUPC and
the National Housing Commission (NHC). Most of these offices were concerned
with housing. In the same year, Republic Act 333 made Quezon City the capital of
the Philippines.
1950 - urban squatting began to show signs of proliferation. In the same year, the National
Planning Commission (NPC) replaced NUPC and CCPC, and was authorized to:
1. Design a town, city or regional plan for any part of the country;
2. Draft uniform building codes for presentation to local authorities and
adoption for their legislative bodies similar to zoning ordinances and
subdivision regulations.
The lesson of the 1950’s was that planning was up to the individual city or
municipal government and because funds and technical personnel were
unavailable, in most cities, no planning was done at all.
1954 - National Planning Commission (NPC) prepared the master plan for Manila
1955 - President Magsaysay through Executive Order No. 148 created the National
Housing Council (NHC).
1959 - after the enactment of Republic Act 2264, the planning of Philippine towns and
cities became the responsibility of the local governments. However, very few cities
took advantage of this opportunity.

Through the years and after the enactment of the Local Government Autonomy
Act of 1959, the functions of the NUPC were devolved to local governments and
the NUPC played the role of advisor. Symptoms of non-readiness of local leaders
in urban development planning and implementation then emerged. These were
evident in the multiplication of informal settlers, residential lot developments being
sold without roads and utilities, “ribbon development” or proliferation of residential
and commercial structures along highways, and roads congested with vehicular
traffic.
1960’s - characterized by a continuing movement of the Filipinos to the cities to search
for better life.
1963 - The idea of establishing the center for urban studies became more attractive when
the Institute of Public Administration of the premiere University of the Philippines
(UP) received a grant from Ford Foundation to undertake a research project on
the problems and operations of local government and their role in national

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development. This led to the creation of the Local Government Center (LGC) of
the said institute.
1965 - the UP Board of Regents established the Institute of Planning (now the School of
Urban Planning) upon the approval of Republic Act 4341 by the Philippine
Congress. The establishment of the Institute of Planning was largely a product of
increasing recognition of urban and regional problems and trends and of the
realization that planning is important in assisting or redirecting these trends. It was
also in response to the need fro capable urban and regional planners whose
training and experience are appropriate to the conditions existing in developing
countries like the Philippines.
1970’s - The Philippines has an urban system characterized by primacy. Accordingly,
attention has been concentrated on the major urbanized area in the vicinity of
Manila, also described as Greater Manila and Metro Manila. Urban problems are
more acute in the metropolitan area and the “crisis seems limited to the Manila
area because of its characteristics as primate city.

In the Philippines, urban development generally has been neglected and existing
planning or development board are mainly concerned in economic planning but
not with physical planning. Since the purpose of economic planning is to provide
a better environment with a higher standard of living for the people, it should lead
to physical urban planning. Physical urban planning should go hand in hand with
economic planning at the local, regional and national levels. Although its quite
easy to come up with the national policy stating certain goals, implementation is
difficult because of conflicts in inter-governmental relations. And the transfers of
the physical planning function to local government in the Philippines are often cited
as detrimental effects on the local autonomy crusade. Reasons why programs to
cope with internal city or metropolitan area problem have not been too successful
were:
1. Lack of forward-looking tradition of city planning;
2. Widespread adherence to local officials and some national government
people to the doctrine of local autonomy.
3. Failure of the national government to provide the leadership in confronting
the city and metropolitan problems.
1973 - The creation of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)
ushered a new strategy in planning. The Constitution of 1973 mandated NEDA for
the purpose of recommending a continuing coordinated and fully integrated social
and economic plans and programs. It is an effort of the government to make
development planning a more organized activity integrating physical planning; an
Inter-Agency Task Force on Human Settlements (TFHS) was created in 1973. It
was charged with the responsibility to produce a framework plan for the nation and
the Manila Bay Region (NMPC-MHS, 1977)
1977 - strong coordinative linkages with the human settlements approach that proved vital
led to the holdings of the National Conference for Town Planning, Housing and
Zoning (TPZH). It led to the organization of the nine-agency National Coordinating
Council (NCC) in February 1977 by the virtue of Latter of Instruction (LOI) 511.
The NCC-TPZH Program achieved the acceleration of land use and zoning plans
prepared in the major centers of the country in line with that of regional and

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national priorities and guidelines. It further enhanced local capabilities for plan
preparation and administration.
1978 - The Human Settlements Commission (HSC) was elevated to the Ministry of Human
Settlements by virtue of Presidential Decree (PD) 1396 which also created the
Human Settlements Regulatory Commission (HSRC), and designated Metro
Manila as National Capital Region. It was through the MHS that government
policies for renewal and development of Philippine Towns and Cities were carried
out: Its program is primarily directed to three major concerns:
1. Land use and Town Planning
2. Shelter and
3. Environmental Management

Town Planning is basically the local government’s function but over the years, the
national and regional agencies have been extending technical assistance due to lack of
technical expertise and funds that could support the conduct of comprehensive and
integrative planning. An inter-agency coordinating secretariat for local planning
assistance under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Settlements came up with the Manual
of Operations for Local Planning Assistance on Town Planning and Zoning. It was used
as guidelines for the planning activities of Local Government Units – as a result of the
joint efforts of the Ministry of Human Settlements, The National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA), the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Budget. As
provided by the Memorandum of Agreement signed on July 13, 1980, roles and
responsibilities of each agency including their local officials and institutions were defined.

5. The Marcos Era

1975 - Marcos’ consolidation of Manila and 16 other cities and municipalities into one
metropolitan region gave birth to the Metropolitan Manila Commission, which re-
introduced the use of strategic urban planning. The Metropolitan Manila
Commission came up with a Structure Plan which defined a framework for growth
of Manila through a spatial arrangement of functional areas, land use planning,
infrastructure developments, and population distribution. Convention and cultural
centers, international hotels, the Manila South and North Expressways, and the
Light Rail Transit System are products of the Structure Plan for Manila.

In terms of economic development, the Philippines was no. 2 in Southeast Asia, Massive
infrastructure projects nationwide; Introduction of national socio-economic planning;
regional planning and local planning; linear development; resettlement projects; new
towns; industrial estates; human settlements concept; physical planning at the national –
regional – local planning levels

• Establishment of the UP Institute of Planning, now the School of Urban and Regional
Planning.
• Establishment of the Philippine Institute of Environmental Planners.
• PD 1308 professionalizing the field of Environmental Planning.
• National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) 1972
• Presidential Economic Staff (PES)
• Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS)
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• Human Settlements Commission (HSC)

• Metro Manila Commission (MMC)
• National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC)
• National Housing Corporation (NHC)
• PHHC - NHA
• HFC - Home Financing Corporation
• National Coordinating Council for Town Planning, Zoning and Housing
• Human Settlements Development Corporation
• Technology Resource Center
• Lungsod Silangan Project
• Urban and Rural Bliss Program
• Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran
• Physical Planning Strategy for the Philippines
• Metro Manila Bay Strategic Plan
• Mindanao Regional Development Strategy
• Task Force on Human Settlements/PPDO Merger
• Framework Plan for the Philippines
• Metro Manila Strategic Plan
• Tondo Foreshore Project
• Development Academy of the Philippines
• Regional Development Councils/RDS
• Bliss Development Corporation

National government agencies meant to formulate urban development plans and enforce
land use control, zoning regulations, and land conversion rules, were set up but through
the years, these evolved into agencies that did less planning and did more permitting and
licensing activities.

As the enactment of laws (e.g., Presidential Decree or PD 933 in 1976, PD 1396 in 1978,
and Urban Development and Housing Act in 1992) and creation of government agencies
(e.g., Ministry of Human Settlements, Human Settlements Regulatory Commission,
Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, and Housing and Land Use
Regulatory Board) emphasized housing, the coverage of the medium-term plans and
urban development thinking naturally gravitated toward solving the housing problem.

The Comprehensive Land Use Plan

In areas of the country outside Metro Manila, it has also been common to see medium
plans not being followed through, especially when a new mayor or governor wins in the
election and discards the former local chief executive’s plans.

In local governments, planning is narrowly focused on piecemeal zoning and land use
conversion, and local government efforts are being spent largely on permitting and
licensing activities and less on strategic urban planning that could have respected the
urban land nexus—that is, providing strategic plans for enhancing the link within and
between production space and social space through the circulation space (including
physical infrastructure). A local government unit is required under the law to come up with
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a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) but the CLUPs of local governments are almost
like mirror images of one another in that plan related to zoning and residential/commercial
area development are dominant while plans related to strategic connectivity-enhancing
infrastructure are few and unclear, if not entirely missing. In the articulation of CLUPs in
adjacent local government units, it is also common to find that these are not framed by an
overarching long-term vision and cohesive strategies for interconnectivity at the higher
geographical level (i.e., provincial, regional, island or inter-island levels). Thus, the CLUPs
are often inward-looking, fragmented and lacking in complementarity.

Readings
1. Why Metro Manila Is an Urban Planning ‘Mess,’
– Katrina Hallare. November 02, 2021
https://www.onenews.ph/articles/why-metro-manila-is-an-urban-planning-mess-
according-to-an-expert?

2. Urban planning shouldn’t be led by politicians

– Arjay Balinbin. February 23, 2021
https://www.bworldonline.com/urban-planning-shouldnt-be-led-by-politicians-says-
expert/

3. What Is Wrong with Urban Planning in Metro Manila?

https://www.zipmatch.com/blog/urban-planning-in-metro-manila/

References:
1. Navarro, A. (2014). Scrutinizing Urbanization Challenges in the Philippines through the
Infrastructure Lens. PIDS Discussion Paper Series, No. 2014-37. Philippine Institute for
Development Studies, Makati City

2. Magno, R. (N/A). Evolution of Philippine Planning Thought and Experience Retrieved from:
https://primumnilnocerefiles.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/03_plan-201-history.pdf

3. Antipolo, S. (N/A). Postwar Planning in the Philippines: Lessons from the Last Five Decades.
University of Southern Eastern Philippines

4. Module 5: Historical Evolution of Regional Development in the Philippines. AR 513 Introduction

to Urban and Regional Planning

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