UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES DILIMAN

College of Architecture
Quezon City, Philippines

LUPANG ARENDA MERKADO

A Proposed Market-cum-Commercial Hub and Eco-park
with Disaster Risk Reduction and Response (DRRR)
and Flood Control Integrated Spaces

A proposal presented to the

College of Architecture,
University of the Philippines,
Diliman, Quezon City

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Subject
Architectural Design VII: Integrative Design Project I

Under the supervision of Professor Richelle Rhea R. Baria

By
Christianne Clarisse Bongalon
2020-05163
IV - BS Architecture

October 2023
I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Lupang Arenda in Sitio Tapayan, Barangay Sta. Ana, Taytay, Rizal Province was originally
allocated as socialized housing by Former President Fidel Ramos through Proclamation
704. However, due to the intense flooding of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, Former President
Gloria Macapagal would revoke this through Executive Order 854, declaring the site
unfit for residence because of concerns on safety from disaster (TAO-Pilipinas, Inc.,
n.d.).

Residents have, since, been fighting for the security of tenure in Lupang Arenda. Palermo
(2023, September 18) in Manila Bulletin reported that Members of the Alliance of
People’s Organizations in Lupang Arenda (APOLA) are still campaigning for
proclamation of land housing for over 19,000 families.

As flood risk and permanency of residence remain a large talking point, the Lupang
Arenda life goes on for its residents. The 2020 Census of Population and Housing by the
Philippine Statistics Authority (2020) found that its barangay, Sta. Ana, as having 107,415
residents while Lupang Arenda alone is home to 40,181 individuals.

The Ynares Avenue in Lupang Arenda is an entire street of a variety of stores, such as
wholesale and resale, food, grocery, pharmacies. Some institutional facilities are also
distributed throughout, where there is the Ynares Elementary school, a community
learning hub, a barangay basketball court, the barangay extension hall which houses the
health center and rescue vehicles. Crowded day and night and flooded without rain.

Summarily, Lupang Arenda is in the position for community safeguarding and

development. Environmental and socio-economic concerns persisting in the community
require a scheme that is able address and kickstart lasting solutions to them.

The Comprehensive Development Plan of Taytay (Local Government of Taytay, 2018)

states that collaboration of the public and private sectors can elevate life and livelihood
of the socialized housing residents, particularly in Lupang Arenda.

In consideration of the overall climate of progress, tapping into private capital has
brought major improvements in sprawling urban communities but with a well-structured
public-private partnership (PPP) can uplift small municipalities and cities by providing
essential support to produce the necessary but unavailable resources, facilities, and
infrastructure (Brown, 2020).

At present, PPPs in the Philippines have been crucial to nation building, specifically,
economic development. In the Philippines, PPPs best show in infrastructure
development. One of its lasting and oldest outputs is the North Luzon Expressway
(NLEX) connecting the northern Philippines to Metro Manila which services 278,000
motorists everyday (Zaldarriaga, 2022).

Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, the current administration is eyeing for an
economic boost. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is encouraging local heads to look into
PPPs as a framework for the financing of projects for their constituents; and has also
broached the possibility of a PPP-system for micro, small, and medium enterprises
(MSMEs) which account for around 99.5% percent of businesses in the country (The
Philippine Star, 2022).

This collaboration of sectors will possibly befit the community safeguarding and
development goals for Lupang Arenda through the “Disaster Risk Reduction Private
Sector Partnership'' by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015)
which details five visions for a resilient future highlighting the collaboration of local,
national, and private stakeholders in mitigation, preparation, and response to disasters.
Economically attractive solutions by resilient-sensitive public and resilient-sensitive
businesses secures protection and sustainability for both parties and their communities.

Architecturally, to accommodate for the variety of functions that a public-private

partnership needs, a mixed-use typology is to be adapted. Parallel to PPPs, the mixed-use
architecture arose out of the multidisciplinary thinking and ways of recent times through
allowing for multiple types of function (Upadhyaya, 2022). Similarly, transformable
spaces allow a room or more to also have multiple functions (Jain & Choudhari, 2018).

Lupang Arenda, particularly, its economic core in Ynares Avenue, is reflective of

interconnected systems and their problems and opportunities. It is where the locality gets
their basic needs, where governmental functions are hosted, and where local businesses
thrive as a frequented customer space. At the same time, it is flooded, even during sunny
days, due to poor drainage control. Thus, the solution calls for socioeconomic and
environmental response–infrastructural repairs and improvements that can be provided
for through architecture that revitalizes the community and opens the space for
opportunities.

Significance of the Study

The study aims to provide an architectural solution addressing the socioeconomic and
environmental conditions through a building, multiple buildings, or a development that
generates opportunities of collaboration between the local community, the government,
and the private sector to further the cause of disaster risk, reduction, and response
(DRRR), tourism, and commerce in Lupang Arenda.

Specifically, this aims to benefit the following:

Lupang Arenda Residents

The design’s priority is to contribute to the improvement of the
community’s overall environment and economy. The provision of
commercial spaces, a DRRR hub, and eco-park offers the residents an
opportunity for jobs, leisure, learning (specifically of disaster preparation
and response) and refuge in a time of calamity.

The Local Business Stakeholders

The commercial spaces shall accommodate MSMEs of the community,
providing them a physical store and location that should best receive
customers and turn good profit.

The Lupang Arenda NGOs

The transformable DRRR spaces can be used by the community NGOs of
Lupang Arenda in fostering Lupang Arenda’s solidarity in good causes.

The Government
Fostering local socioeconomic and environmental development is
contributory to the larger institutions. Creating a commercial, touristic space
adds to the local to national economic revenue.

The DRRR spaces uphold the goals of the National Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Council (NDRRMC) in imbibing disaster readiness and
response as well as provide facilities and equipment to fulfill them to the
community.
 The Private Sector
As financier and part-owner, the private sector earns revenue and
simultaneously uplifts the community through its major support in the
construction of the DRRR-ready commercial hub and park.

Tourist/s and the Tourism Sector

The commercial hub and park aims to beautify the community, providing
striking building exteriors and landscaping to invite the locality, visitors, and
customers to the area.

B. Problem Statement or Thesis Statement

How can architecture foster socioeconomic and disaster resilience in the community of
Lupang Arenda?

1. What are the notable and pressing socioeconomic and environmental conditions
in Lupang Arenda, specifically conditions that put the community in a position
of risk and/or opportunity?
2. What spaces are necessary for community safety from the risks researched?
What spaces can present the community opportunities?
3. What architectural typology/typologies will best accommodate the conditions of
Lupang Arenda and the spaces that correspond and/or answer to them?

C. Objectives

The study aims to provide an architectural solution that addresses the socioeconomic
and environmental conditions in Lupang Arenda grounded and translated from
appropriate existing business, disaster, and resilience frameworks.

Specifically, it seeks to:

1. Highlight specific socioeconomic and environmental risks and opportunities in
fostering community progress.
2. Provide spaces that cater to these risks and opportunities and ultimately;
3. Design a building or multiple building/s or a development for the
socioeconomic and environmental benefit of the Lupang Arenda community.

D. Scope and Limitations & Assumptions

The study endeavors to identify particular socioeconomic and environmental risks

yielded by the data from review of literature, investigation of the site and its conditions.
Thus, the hybrid programming and mixed-use typologies to be identified will be limited
in direct relation to the needs and opportunities determined.

II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Annotated Bibliography

THE SITE AND THE SITE CONTEXT

Fernandez, J. ". (2023, February 20). Lupang Arenda resettlement, ano na? Taytay Ni Juan.
https://taytaynijuan.me/lupang-arenda-resettlement-ano-na/

The name Arenda originated from the Spanish term for ‘lease’ used for the lease of fixed assets in
the Encomienda system (forced labor) system that Taytay, among many provinces in the
Philippines, was under during the Hispanic colonial times.

The large Lupang Arenda lot was donated by Don Juan Valerio Gonzales and Don Cristobal
Paramdam to the Taytay municipality and used as farmland and fishery from which some of the
locals were able to make their livelihood.
TAO-Pilipinas, Inc. (n.d.). Community Partners.
https://tao-pilipinas.org/networks/community-partners/

The Presidential Proclamation 704 in 1995 by Former President Fidel Ramos declared the
80-hectare Lupang Arenda as relocation of informal settlers and the families displaced by the
Pasig River Rehabilitation. Flooding due to Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009 would push then
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to revoke this proclamation through Executive Order 854.
The umbrella organization, Alliance of People’s Organizations in Lupang Arenda (APOLA), with
3 federations: Lupang Arenda Homeowners Federation, Inc. (LAHOFI); Arenda Urban Poor
Federation, Inc. (AUPFI); and Koalisyon ng Pagbabago sa Lupang Arenda Council of Leaders,
Inc. (KOALISYON) are actively engaging with the local and national government in
re-establishing Lupang Arenda as a site for socialized housing and the residents’ security of
tenure.

Local Government of Taytay. (2018). Comprehensive Development Plan of Taytay.

Flooding Risk

Lupang Arenda locates itself in the lowlands of Taytay where there are noted poor internal
drainage systems with most of them being open creeks and canals that necessitated constant
dredging. Besides drainage, heavy rainfall ultimately causes the floods in the municipality’s
flatlands but is reported to be exacerbated by flood control projects.

The Napindan Project involved a road dike and other flood control infrastructures that flooded
towns in Taguig, Taytay, and other towns in Laguna and Rizal and obstructed saltwater flow from
Manila Bay to Laguna Lake, affecting the lake’s ecology.

The construction of the 10-kilometer artificial floodway, Manggahan—which aims to lessen

Metro Manila flooding—redirected the floodwater to coastal and lakesides of Laguna and Rizal.

Strengthening Community

There should be establishment of plans to improve the existing area. In Lupang Arenda, the
government aims to create a more conducive dwelling. Specifically, this means a proper drainage
system, waste and pollution control, and disaster risk management done with the involvement of
national agencies and private investors. In promoting opportunities for comprehensive livelihood
for the residents, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are encouraged.

RESILIENCE

Laboy, M., & Fannon, D. (2016). Resilience theory and praxis: a critical framework for
architecture. Enquiry The ARCC Journal for Architectural Research, 13(1).

The Ball and Cup Model of System and Stability provides an overview of the trends of paths and
methods from which the practice of architecture can derive its use and application of resilience
from. The model looks into illustrating and understanding the phenomena and approach to
phenomena that engineering, ecological, and socio-ecological or adaptive systems have such that
the scopes and limitations of each system can be identified and derived. Specifically, it showed
that engineering resilience alone, by purely technological and scientific ways, tend to lack and fail
especially long-term, because its defining character is primarily recovery time and efficiency
which is constrained to immediacy and time which also limits the solution from being prepared
of disturbances that are big in size and longer in the time scale. Ecological resilience on the other
hand, offers a broader scope through encompassing multiple equilibriums rather than
engineering's single. This enables for more than one outcome (a new normal) rather than only
two possibilities of going back to original condition or ultimately, failure. Social-ecological
resilience recognizes the dynamism of context and derives a wider, long-term, adaptive response
than ecological and engineering resilience and consequently requires architecture to provide an
extensive solution. Social-ecological resilience translates to understanding and incorporating
the interconnection of technical, ecological, and social domains in the design of buildings.

PARADIGMS FOR THE SOLUTION

Public-Private Partnerships

Asian Development Bank. (2021). Public–Private Partnership Monitor: Philippines.

https://doi.org/10.22617/sgp200424-2

A public-private partnership (PPP) is a contractual arrangement entered by public and private

sectors in which risks and rewards from the use of skills, assets, and/or financial resources of
either or both parties are shared in complementary manner, with the goal of servicing the
community and its citizens. In this system, the public entity holds the ultimate responsibility of
providing the service, but the private sector provides and supports the same for an extended
period of time. In the Philippines, between 1990 to 2019, 116 PPP projects of varying
infrastructures (i.e., airports, electricity, information) succeeded in attaining financial closure, with
the highest investment in energy. Among the biggest sponsors of the sector are Philippine-origin
companies: Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Ayala Corporation, and San Miguel Corporation. That said,
there has been an increase in foreign sponsor participation, with 39 current projects welcoming
overseas investors. PPPs have long served, since the 1980s, as one of the Government of the
Philippines’ medium of providing service and is, therefore, supported by comprehensive legal
frameworks regulating their execution. The PPP Center assists national and local bodies in
project selection and evaluation, including the financial viability. Primarily, it is an agency for
monitoring PPPs in the country under the National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA).

Arellano Law Foundation. (n.d.). R.A. 6957. The Lawphil Project.

https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1990/ra_6957_1990.html

The 1987 Constitution recognized the private sector as significant in national growth but it would
be in 1990, when the Republic Act No. 6957 (RA 6957) or the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law
that the sector would be placed in the frontlines of development as private sectors would
undertake the capital investments of projects typically initiated and implemented by the
government. The law provided two contract schemes: (1) Build-operate-transfer (BOT) in which
the private sector undertakes financing and construction, and not for more than 50 years, the
operation and maintenance of the project until they are able to recover initial investment; after
which the ownership will be transferred to a national or local government agency; (2)
build-transfer in which the ownership is immediately on the national or local government agency
after private sector-supported construction.

Kagalingan, B. T. (n.d.). Republic Act No. 7718.

https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1994/ra_7718_1994.html

The Republic Act No. 7718 (RA 7718) or the Amended BOT Law added more public-private
contract schemes to the existing two in RA 6957: (1) build-transfer-operate (BTO), (2)
build-own-operate (BOO), (3) build-lease-transfer (BLT), (4) contract-add-operate (CAO), (5)
develop-operate-transfer, (6) rehabilitate-operate-transfer. Of all the schemes, only BOO requires
the president’s green light upon the NEDA Board’s Investment Coordination Committee (ICC)
recommendation.

Five Private Sector Visions for A Resilient Future

The Disaster Risk Reduction Private Sector Partnership by the United Nations Office for
Disaster Risk Reduction outlines the following visions which ultimately positions the private
sector in the promotion of disaster resilience: “(1) Strong Public Private Partnerships drive
disaster risk reduction and resilience at the local and national level; (2) Resilience in the built
environment is driven by the public sector raising minimum standards, and enabling the private
sector to work voluntarily towards optimum practices; (3) All financial invest and accounting
decisions, public and private, are risk-sensitive; (4) A resilience-sensitive businesses drive each
other towards resilient societies; (5) Identification and disclosure of risks carried, and their
proactive management, becomes a standard business practice.”

The Mandaluyong Marketplace

Manasan, R. G., & Mercado, R. G. (1999). Governance and urban development: Case study of Metro
Manila (No. 1999-03). PIDS Discussion Paper Series.

Mandaluyong City employed RA 6957's Build-Operate-Transfer to produce one of the 'early

successful BOT projects in the world', The Marketplace. It is a commercial complex hosting a
variety of profit-generating spaces such as a public market, leisure places like an amusement plaza
with a bowling center, fast food, shopping facilities, and parking.

The establishment was able to maintain jobs of vendors in the area and provide more work
opportunities. It would also aid in minimizing flooding, and has waste management through
modern garbage collection and wastewater pollution control systems.

POTENTIAL EQUIVALENT TYPOLOGY

Mixed-Use Typology

Upadhyaya, N. (2022). The Future of Architecture: Mixed-Use buildings are reshaping our cities.
Journal. https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/industry/future-of-architecture-mixed-use/

The mixed-use typology maximizes the number of potential functions that a structure can do, it
can comprise of the following: “commercial, residential, coworking, institutional, health and
wellness, cultural, hospitality, sports and recreation, transportation and more.”

Transformable Space

Jain, A., & Choudhari, S. (2018). Transformable Space. International Journal of Research in Engineering,
Science and Management, 1(10), 2581–5792.

Promoting maximum use of space, transformable spaces are multi-functional that vary depending
on the hour or day and the activities corresponding to it. These spaces can conserve space,
reduce material and construction costs, and ultimately, are economic and sustainable.
 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

🔼 Integrated Theoretical-Conceptual Framework

III. METHODOLOGY

SYSTEM OF INQUIRY

Constructivism and Pragmatism

RESEARCH PARADIGM

Qualitative Methods

a. Systematic Review of Literature

For the primary formulation of the problem, potential frameworks of
the solution, and initial building typology/ies.

b. Case Studies
For determination of the architectural precedents that will help inform
the architectural solution of the problem.

The system of inquiry and qualitative methods have largely informed the primary
formulation of the problem-solution.

TACTICS

a. PRESENT CONDITIONS ANALYSIS

i. Site Visit
1. Informal Interviews (with the locality)
2. Naturalistic Observation
ii. GIS & Sieve Mapping
iii. Site Selection through Site Selection Criteria
b. ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMMING
i. Interview with the Locality
c. SCHEMATICS
i. Iterative Design
d. DESIGN INTEGRATION
References:

ABS-CBN News. (2009a, October 17). Portions of Pasig, Rizal still flooded. ABS-CBN News.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/metro-manila/10/17/09/portions-pasig-rizal-still-flo

oded

ABS-CBN News. (2009b, November 3). 'Ondoy+poor urban planning = floods' ABS-CBN

News.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/tv-current-affairs/11/03/09/ondoypoor-urban-planning-floo

ds

Arellano Law Foundation. (n.d.). R.A. 6957. The Lawphil Project.

https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1990/ra_6957_1990.html

Asian Development Bank. (2021). Public–Private Partnership Monitor: Philippines.

https://doi.org/10.22617/sgp200424-2

Brown, D. (2020, December 29). How Small Towns Can Ride The Public-Private Partnership

Wave. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2021/12/29/how-small-towns-c

an-ride-the-public-private-partnership-wave/?sh=36e2e7983746

Fernandez, J. ". (2023, February 20). Lupang Arenda resettlement, ano na? - Taytay ni Juan. Taytay Ni

Juan. https://taytaynijuan.me/lupang-arenda-resettlement-ano-na/

Jain, A., & Choudhari, S. (2018). Transformable Space. International Journal of Research in

Engineering, Science and Management, 1(10), 2581–5792.

Kagalingan, B. T. (n.d.). Republic Act No. 7718.

https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1994/ra_7718_1994.html

Local Government of Taytay. (2018). Comprehensive Development Plan of Taytay.

Palmero, M. (2023, September 18). Housing request - Manila Standard. Manila Standard.

https://www.manilastandard.net/gallery/news-in-photos/314371666/housing-request.ht

ml
TAO-Pilipinas, Inc. (n.d.). Community Partners.

https://tao-pilipinas.org/networks/community-partners/

The Philippine Star. (2022, December 28). Palace eyes more PPPs for infrastructure. Philstar.com.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/12/29/2233919/palace-eyes-more-ppps-infr

astructure

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. (2015). UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

Private Sector Partnership.

Upadhyaya, N. (2022). The Future of Architecture: Mixed-Use buildings are reshaping our cities.

Journal.

https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/industry/future-of-architecture-mixed-use/

Zaldarriaga, J. (2022, December 6). Strengthen public-private partnerships to boost infra dev’t.

GOV.PH. Retrieved October 2, 2023, from

https://www.pna.gov.ph/opinion/pieces/591-strengthen-public-private-partnerships-to-

boost-infra-devt