SP APPROVES DAGUPAN’S REVISED ZONING ORDINANCE

DAGUPAN CITY – Six of the seven councilors belonging to the majority bloc, 

with one abstaining, unanimously passed on second and final readings in their 

regular session on June 21 the city’s new zoning ordinance to complement the 

Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) which they approved earlier on June 7.

Members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (legislative council) of
Dagupan City passed the new zoning ordinance last June 21.

The new zoning ordinance shall be the implementing arm of the city’s CLUP, 
which will 

soon be the primary and dominant bases for the future use of the city’s land 
resources.

Among all cities in Region 1, Dagupan has the most outdated CLUP enacted
 through 

Ordinance No. 957, series of 1978. The cities of Laoag, Candon, Vigan, San
 Fernando, 

San Carlos, Urdaneta and Alaminos already updated their respective CLUPs,
 whereas 

Dagupan waited 38 years before updating its own. 

The proposed CLUP highlights the optimum use of the finite land and water 
resources

of the city through the proposed development projects of the city in the next
 ten years,

 as well as its newly identified growth areas like Lucao-Pantal tourism growth
 center,
 Poblacion growth center, Caranglaan-Tebeng growth center, and the Bonuan
 growth
 center.

With the new CLUP in place, Dagupan shall continue to remain as the premier 
city of 

Pangasinan and Region 1 and will further strengthen its position and economic
 vibrancy

 by adopting a new spatial strategy that seeks to enable the other barangays to catch up

 with the traditional urban area in terms of level of development.

This is done by grouping contiguous barangays into growth centers, and each growth 

center treated as a planned unit development site which is a new concept in city

 planning. The growth centers shall become the focus of more intensive policy 
intervention
s and investments to serve initially as the focus of decentralized services.

In 2003, there was an attempt to revise the 1978 zoning ordinance but it failed
 to get 

the approval of the national HLURB.

The HLURB is the lead agency in the provision of technical assistance to local 

government units in the preparation of comprehensive land use plans; 
regulation of housing, land development and homeowners association; and 
adjudications of disputes related thereto.

Accordingly, Ordinance No. 1840, series of 2005 is a 30-year plan and therefore 
not in 

conformity with the policy of the agency of a 10 year CLUP. Secondly, the said

ordinance was approved ahead of the resolution of the Regional Land Use 
Committee

 (RLUC) in violation of its policy and is therefore void.   

In view of this, HLURB Baguio maintained that Ordinance No. 957, series of 1978 
approved during the term of then Mayor Cipriano Manaois is the Dagupan’s zoning
 ordinance that is still in effect. 

Since Mayor Belen T. Fernandez was at the helm, she set into motion steps that led to 
the crafting

 of the Revised CLUP for 2015-2025 which was twice endorsed by the City Development 
Council 

and transmitted to the SP for study and review.

Councilor Liberato "Karlos" Reyna IV expressed hope that with the approval of the revised zoning ordinance the city now has a chart or road map to guide its progress for the next 10 years.

Joining Reyna in passing the revised zoning ordinance were councilors Jesus D. Canto, 

Jose Netu M. Tamayo, Alvin T. Coquia, Marvin V. Fabia and Marcelino Fernandez. 

 Councilor Maybelyn Fernandez was the acting vice mayor and presiding officer. 

Councilor Jeslito C. Seen opted not to cast his vote. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/June 21, 
2016)