LCP Organizes Webinar on Inter-LGU Cooperation for Manila Bay

Technical experts and local governments from the Manila Bay Region convened to discuss the role of local governments in the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan (MBSDMP) at a webinar organized by the League of Cities of the Philippines on 23 October 2020, with funding support from VNG International through its Governance of Inclusive Green Growth in Cities (DEALS) Programme.

The webinar entitled Promoting Interlocal Cooperation in the Manila Bay Master Plan provided a deeper understanding of how cities, provinces, and municipalities in the Manila Bay Region can work together in implementing the programs, activities, and projects (PAPs) outlined in the master plan with special focus on water governance and solid waste management.

LCP Vice-President for Luzon and Balanga City Mayor Francis Garcia opened the session and highlighted the benefits of collaboration in increasing the capacities of LGUs to implement the PAPs in the masterplan. Assistant Secretary Roderick Planta of the NEDA’s Investment Programming Group corroborated this view in his opening remarks. He shared that inclusiveness and stakeholder engagements are part and parcel of the master planning process. Both Mayor Garcia and ASec. Planta also emphasized the need to create synergies to accomplish the goals of the MBSDMP.

The League also invited experts to elevate the discourse on cooperation and the planning process in the Manila Bay. Professor Rex Cruz, Deputy Team Leader of the local consulting firm behind the MBSDMP, highlighted the important roles of LGUs in implementing the goals of the master plan, as these are very much entwined with the aspirations of the LGUs. He also explained how the master plan’s goals could be incorporated in the land use plans of cities, municipalities, and provinces surrounding Manila Bay.

“The Manila Bay Development Master Plan is consistent with the aspirations of local government units as we pursue, for instance, the improvement of the water quality in the bay,” Cruz said. “That requires improvement in the way we manage our wastewater, the way we manage our solid waste. These are all within your priority areas of concern for LGUs.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for the International Water Affairs of the Kingdom of Netherlands and Sherpa to the UN High-Level Panel on Water, focused his presentation on water’s unifying characteristic.

“Water has its capacity to connect,” Ovink said. “It helps in the context of building this enabling environment because investing in water, as said, has this trickle-down effect across all SDGs. Investing in water will reduce health risks, increase economic opportunities, combat climate, make us more resilient, ensure food security, provide less inequality, and so forth. Water is connected to all our challenges, but that is also very complex. So, understanding these interdependencies, understanding that complexity helps us understand how we value water better.” Mr. Ovink also encouraged the local officials and employees to continue to scale-up and replicate actions.

“We have to put our science, our policy, but also our investments where our hearts and minds are. We know what to do, but we also know it is not easy,” he said.

On the other hand, LCP expert and UP-Los Baños Associate Professor Vella Atienza talked about cooperation in solid waste management. She emphasized that there is sufficient legal basis for local governments to venture into interlocal cooperative arrangements for development projects. In presenting the data on existing disposal facilities, she said that there is strong evidence of existing collaboration among LGUs.

Prof. Atienza also shared that LGUs in the Manila Bay Region can cluster according to their existing geographical location—such as the CAMANAVA (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) in NCR—or according to the priority measures of the master plan, such as that of Alyansa ng mga Baybaying Bayan ng mga Lalawigan ng Bulacan at Pampanga which focused on solid waste management.

No matter the reason to collaborate, she also encouraged LGUs to work with the private sector, academe, and funding agencies to address challenges in financing and technical requirements of PAPs in the masterplan.

“Through collaboration, LGUs can pool resources, share information, and expertise,” said Atienza. “The private sector has a very important role. They can provide the infrastructure. With this collaborative partnership with other stakeholders, LGUs need some capacity building, so I believe that the academe, the research institutes, can help a lot,” she added.