(RPG-017) “TOOLS FOR DEVELOPMENT”

When I was head of technology transfer for the DFA, it was part of my job to debrief the foreign consultants who were returning to their home countries after finishing their consulting assignments here. It broke my heart each time they would ask me what happened to our human settlements component here. They were asking me an innocent question, because they would have no idea beforehand that I was formerly connected with the defunct Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS). All I could tell them is that it just died a political death.

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Unfortunately for our country as a whole, there was a misconception that the human settlements approach was a brainchild or an invention of Mrs. Imelda Marcos, and it is obviously for this reason that the human settlements component in this country was killed, leaving behind only certain small parts of the whole infrastructure, such as the Technology Resource Center (TRC), the PAGIBIG Fund and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

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Even during those early days, Former MHS Deputy Minister Jolly Benitez was already using a Geographic Information System (GIS) through a mainframe computer that was housed at the TRC. The Global Positioning System (GPS) technology was still emerging at that time, but I recall that Jolly was already using some of its applications. Of course the mainframes then had limited capabilities compared to today’s servers, but the MHS was already building and running database systems (DBS) even during that time.

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Moving fast forward to the present times, it is still a requirement for Local Government Units (LGUs) as it is now, to produce Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) for their jurisdictions, in accordance with the Integrated Area Development (IAD) approach. Considering that the present versions of GIS, GPS and DBS are more advanced now, the LGUs should really use this technology tools more than ever that is if they would want to make good use of their Internal Revenue Allocations (IRAs). I am willing to help any LGU that would want to move towards this direction.