Project Documents

A Strategic Roadmap for a Vibrant and Resilient Tourism Future

The Cultural Mapping and Tourism Development Plan of San Juan City outlines a comprehensive strategy to transform the city into a sustainable, inclusive, and thriving tourism destination. Anchored in cultural preservation and economic growth, the plan integrates national, regional, and local development goals to promote balanced urban development.

Located at the heart of Metro Manila, San Juan is a compact city with significant historical, cultural, and economic value. Its strategic location and organized barangay structure offer strong potential for targeted tourism development.

To achieve these goals, the CMTDP promotes:

Public-private partnerships
Infrastructure improvements
Digital transformation in tourism marketing and visitor services
Community engagement and inclusive program design

The Plan outlines six flagship programs totaling ₱3.6 billion, covering:

Rich History and Culture Program (₱257.1M): Heritage conservation, including redevelopment of Diwa ng 1986 and restoration of El Polvorin.
Vibrant Attractions and Events Program (₱57M): Development of niche tourism experiences, adventure sports, and cultural showcases.
Business Development and Employment Support Program (₱15.3M): Local product development, job fairs, and digital marketing platform.
Integrated Infrastructure and Support Services (₱187.6M): Revitalization of cultural sites, public spaces, and transport infrastructure.
Safety, Security, and Resilience Program (₱3.08B): CCTV coverage, crowd management, clean-up campaigns, and environmental programs.
Advancing Culture and Tourism Governance (₱10.8M): Institutional strengthening, policy alignment, and capacity building.

A robust resource mobilization strategy will ensure effective plan implementation, with collaboration among government agencies, private stakeholders, and local communities. A dedicated monitoring and evaluation framework will track progress and adapt to emerging trends.

Mapping Muntinlupa’s Future: A Roadmap to Cultural Vibrancy and Tourism Excellence

The Muntinlupa City Tourism and Cultural Development Profile provides a comprehensive overview of the city’s history, geography, demographics, and political structure—establishing the foundation for strategic planning. It also reviews relevant laws and policies, including the Tourism Act of 2009, National Cultural Heritage Act, Climate Change Act, and aligns with the National Tourism Development Plan (2023–2028) and the city’s CLUP (2016–2026).

A situational analysis examines the city’s tourism assets, infrastructure, workforce, market trends, and environmental factors. Through data gathering, geospatial mapping, stakeholder input, and scenario planning, the Profile identifies key strengths, gaps, and opportunities to guide development initiatives.

Crafting a Cultural Identity, Creating a Tourism Legacy

The Muntinlupa City Branding Options Report outlines three strategic tourism branding initiatives designed to boost awareness, engagement, and investment in Muntinlupa City while fostering local pride. By highlighting the city’s unique attractions, natural beauty, rich history, and vibrant culture, the proposal positions Muntinlupa as a premier destination in the South. The ultimate goal is to attract more visitors and firmly establish Muntinlupa as a sustainable tourism hub and proud gateway to the South.

The Muntinlupa City Tourism Circuit and Cultural Development Plan presents a strategic, forward-looking framework to position the city as a dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable urban destination. It integrates cultural preservation, sustainable tourism, and economic growth, aligned with local, national, and global development goals.

The analysis assesses tourism resources, support infrastructure, workforce capacity, environmental conditions, market trends, and stakeholder roles. A combination of methodologies ensures a data-driven foundation:

Surveys, interviews, and focus groups
Geospatial mapping of assets, hazards, and land use
Comparative tourism trend analysis
Scenario planning for future development paths

The Plan envisions Muntinlupa as a premier tourism and cultural hub, guided by strategic actions such as: rebranding key sites like the New Bilibid Prison, revitalizing public spaces, and enhancing signage, mobility, and visitor services; linking heritage assets through interpretive plans, integrating traditional villages, expanding Museo ng Muntinlupa, and introducing multimedia exhibits; supporting local enterprises through branding, training, accreditation, and entrepreneurship programs; improving safety via transport and disaster preparedness upgrades; and strengthening governance through policy reforms, staff development, and digital innovation.

Parañaque Unlocked: A Strategic Journey Through Culture and Tourism

The Tourism and Cultural Development Profile and Plan of Parañaque City offers a comprehensive, forward-looking strategy to position the city as a vibrant, inclusive, and resilient urban destination. By integrating cultural preservation, sustainable tourism, and economic development, the initiative supports local, national, and global goals for building thriving communities.

The Profile: Foundations for Planning

The Tourism and Cultural Development Profile presents a detailed overview of Parañaque City’s history, geography, demographics, and political boundaries—establishing the baseline for development. It includes a review of legal and policy frameworks, such as the Tourism Act of 2009, National Cultural Heritage Act, Climate Change Act, and alignment with the National Tourism Development Plan (2023–2028) and the city’s CLUP (2016–2026).

A situational analysis evaluates the city's tourism assets, infrastructure, workforce, market trends, and environmental conditions. Using data collection, geospatial mapping, stakeholder consultations, and scenario planning, the Profile identifies key strengths, gaps, and opportunities for strategic intervention.

The Plan: Strategic Vision for 2024 and Beyond

The Tourism and Cultural Development Plan outlines a clear vision, goals, and strategies to revitalize Parañaque’s tourism sector while preserving its rich cultural heritage. Focus areas include:

Developing vibrant attractions and events
Promoting heritage through museums, festivals, and interpretive programs
Supporting local tourism businesses and entrepreneurship
Enhancing infrastructure, safety, and accessibility
Building climate and disaster resilience
Strengthening tourism governance and policy integration

Key features include the revitalization of public spaces, improved digital marketing, development of the Parañaque City Museum, strengthened local product branding, and policy and governance reforms. With six major programs and 127 projects, the Plan requires ₱574.5 million in funding and promotes multisectoral collaboration.

A communications strategy and monitoring framework ensure transparency and stakeholder engagement. Ultimately, the Plan envisions Parañaque as a leading cultural and tourism hub, offering enriching experiences for residents and visitors alike.

San Juan Uncovered: Mapping Culture, Shaping Tourism

The Comprehensive Land Use Plan 2025–2034 of Angono is a vital blueprint that captures our collective vision for sustainable development. It serves as a long-term strategic guide for urban planning, resource management, and community development—striking a balance between modernization and the preservation of Angono’s rich cultural and historical heritage.

Shaped through an inclusive, consultative process, the CLUP reflects the aspirations of local government units, community groups, business leaders, and residents. It consolidates data and strategies across five key sectors: Social, Economic, Environmental, Infrastructure, and Institutional.

A core component of the Plan is the integration of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Assessment (CCDR), which identifies vulnerabilities and proposes adaptive, resilience-building measures.

At the heart of the CLUP is the vision for the Life Industrial Park for Angono Dream (LIPAD)—a transformative development that marks the close of the Baytown era in Barangay Kalayaan and the reinvention of the former quarrying zone into a Planned Unit Development. Envisioned as a dynamic mixed-use district, LIPAD will host residential, commercial, and industrial spaces to support Angono’s expanding population and attract thousands of migrants and visitors by 2031.

The Volume 3: Sectoral Studies – Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Angono presents an in-depth assessment of Angono’s key sectors—including economy, social services, environment, infrastructure, and governance—integrating Climate Change and Disaster Risk Assessment (CCDR) to address vulnerabilities and build resilience.

It provides vital insights to guide sustainable development and informed policymaking. Rooted in extensive research and multi-sectoral consultations, the plan reflects the shared aspirations of Angono’s citizens. As we move toward implementation, we invite every resident to help shape a more inclusive, innovative, and resilient Angono for future generations.

Mandaluyong’s Blueprint for Culture and Tourism Growth

Recognizing tourism as a key economic driver anchored on culture and lifestyle, the City Cultural Affairs and Tourism Department (CCATD) spearheaded the preparation of Mandaluyong’s Tourism and Cultural Development Plan (TCDP) 2024–2030. The Plan offers a strategic framework and action agenda to guide the City and its stakeholders in developing a vibrant tourism sector over the next six years.

At the core of the Plan is Mandaluyong’s tourism vision: to become a globally competitive, adaptive, and sustainable MICE destination. This aligns with the city’s broader development goals.

SMART Cultural Affairs and Tourism Goals:

Tourism Arrivals: Promote inclusive, sustainable tourism and cultural heritage.
Tourism Establishments & Receipts: Expand registered establishments and increase tourism revenue.
Tourism Employment: Generate resilient, competitive jobs and services.
Tourism Infrastructure: Develop inclusive, climate-resilient infrastructure.
Events: Ensure safe, innovative, and inclusive tourism events.
Tourism Governance: Transform LGU into a destination management organization in partnership with the private sector.

Key Strategies:

Cluster accessible and resilient tourism infrastructure
Upgrade city-wide and hub-specific infrastructure
Promote sustainable tourist attractions and heritage sites
Deliver safe, inclusive, and well-planned events
Implement creative marketing approaches
Strengthen local tourism governance
Empower dynamic, competitive tourism stakeholders

The Plan proposes eight (8) city programs, fifty (50) projects, three (3) sub-projects, and two (2) activities. Estimated costs total ₱1.188 billion for infrastructure and ₱483.65 million for soft components, such as capacity building and marketing. Select projects are included in the Local Development Investment Program, with others to be funded through alternative mechanisms detailed in the next section.

Unlocking Access: Manila’s Digital Leap in the Global Mayors Challenge

The City of Manila is one of the 631 cities that participated in the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Team Manila has put forward the Manila Registration ID, which is envisioned as a key component of the Go! Manila application (app), providing greater access to services to the historically underinvested groups in the city.

These include senior citizens, PWDs, solo parents, indigent students, out-of-school youth (OSY), informal settler families (ISF), homeless and informal workers. On June 15, 2021, Bloomberg announced Manila as one of the 50 champion cities that submitted the most innovative urban solutions in the wake of Covid-19 advancing to the final round of the competition.

Following its selection as one of the champion cities that advance to the final round of the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge, Team Manila has participated in a series of workshops organized by Bloomberg, to process and reflect on its project idea using a human-centered perspective.

Team Manila also prepared a research plan; conducted an initial emphatic field research work with target groups to better understand their struggles, aspirations, and needs; and created storyboards. Based on the field research and interviews involving the intended main users, the Team explored and listed assumptions, created learning goals, and proposed a structure to test the prototype.

The City of ManIn creating the prototype for the proposed innovation, Team Manila will have to test the assumptions with the target groups who would also become co-creators of the said inclusive innovation. The tests include behavioral observation to capture underinvested residents’ behavioral acceptance and understanding of the project idea. This will enable the Team to understand the main-users’ take on the prototype being created as to how they feel about interacting with it and determine if they appreciate and like it. Thereafter, the protype will be designed and tested with the underinvested groups to learn what works and what needs improvement.

To help Team Manila carry out the prototype testing, Bloomberg through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hired the services of BioDev, Inc, a private urban planning, design, and management firm, to provide technical assistance in carrying out the emphatic research and tests, and human-centered prototype design of Go! Manila app including the inclusive Manila Registration ID and priority services.

Launching the Path to Sanitation Reform and Clean Water Governance

The Project Launch Report presents the challenges confronting the key stakeholders involved in the MKKP implementation. The Clean Water Act is clear that the DENR has the overall responsibility for implementation for water quality management. Within DENR, this responsibility is assigned to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB). The responsibility covers formulation of water quality management policies, programs and guidelines including setting of effluent standards according to intended beneficial use of the water bodies. As regards the development of the policy framework for sewerage and sanitation management for the country, oversight and coordination is the responsibility of DPWH in coordination with other concerned agencies and institutions.

This Report enumerates the factors for urban sanitation system costs, namely: 1) technology type, distance to treatment facility, whether reusable products are created; 2) costs of labor, materials, and energy; 3) population density; 4) topography, soil characteristics, climate, and water table height; and 5) level of service provided by sanitation system.

Initial discussion on financing is also included in this Report. Funding sources, financing mechanisms and funding opportunities were also introduced. A brief water tariff assessment particularly on Maynila water tariff that allows it to gradually recover its investments, including its government-regulated profits. The tariff follows a socialized structure so that those who consume less water are charged lower rates. Those who consume more water are charged higher rates.

The Manila Local Government Unit (MLGU) launched Project: Kubeta Ko, a multi-stakeholder effort to deliver a portable toilet solution (PTS) to 400 households in the pilot barangays in Parola and Muelle dela Industria.

The partners involved in the project include the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO), the Department for Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Maynilad Water Services, Inc., Loowatt and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

Integral to the implementation of the KKP is the conduct of a feasibility study to determine the sustainability and scalability of PTS. The City Government of Manila has sought the technical assistance of Biodev for the said study.

This Inception Report for Manila Kubeta Ko Project is an initial review of relevant documentation and presentation of the conceptual framework to be used in the study, the key evaluation instruments methodology and survey instruments, including information on data sources and collection, sampling and key indicators. The report contains the following:

1. Review of related studies;

2. Overall methodology for the assignment, including the methodology and criteria for the need’s assessment, the questionnaires for the three (3) household and WTP surveys, and IEC methodology and tools; and

3. An assessment of risks associated with implementing the assignment, and the proposed mitigation measures.

The City Government mandated the Department of Tourism, Culture and Arts of Manila to develop and implement policies, programs, and projects to preserve arts and culture, and help reinvigorate the tourism industry of Manila into an engine of economic recovery. It has established meaningful collaborations with government agencies, private organizations and other institutions in planning and creating world-class and sustainable tourism products and services.

DTCAM undertook researches, updating of tourist attraction and cultural heritage inventories, and organized Stakeholders’ Planning Workshops and focused group discussions in relation to the preparation of the Manila Tourism and Cultural Development Plan. The Plan intends to boost the City’s tourism and cultural reawakening after the covid-19 associated slumber, and in the process create business and employment opportunities for the communities, and generate revenues for the LGU from 2021-2025.

The Plan reflects the collective aspirations of Manileños to revive and enrich the Capital City's culture and heritage, and ensure inclusive business and employment opportunities for all. The creation of the tourism hubs and their respective tagline and development vision, and identification of key issues and potential solutions.

The Plan also showcases the best of Manila through the 8 priority programs, 8 trails, and 8 loops located within 8 tourism hubs. It combines culture and heritage conservation with innovations in tourism services such as tourist- oriented e-vehicles, digital tours, as well as mobile and web-based applications for booking, navigation and other services. It also features concrete strategies and measures to jumpstart the local tourism industry after Covid-19 phenomenon and enable it to become resilient to other pandemics and health-related emergencies.

The Municipal Government of Upi has engaged the services of BioDev, Inc., an urban planning, design and management firm, for the development of the Upi Planning and Management Database (UPMD). The database has four (4) components: Upi Development Indicator System (UDIS); Programs and Project Monitoring System (PPMS); e-Strategic Performance Management System (e-SPMS); and Tri-People Information System (TPIS).

As an added feature of the UPMD, BioDev also developed a dashboard of indicators that will provide the local chief executive and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Council) direct access to key sectoral (i.e., social, economy, environment, infrastructure, and institution) data needed for day-to-day management and decision making.

On January 13, 2021, BioDev conducted a walkthrough of the UPMD prototype for the Municipal Government of Upi. The walkthrough that was undertaken via Zoom was an alternative to the initially-planned face to face presentation, which was not possible due to the travel restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This Progress Report presents the UPMD prototype; inputs from the municipal government on the design, features, and content of the prototype; and agreement on the next steps to finalize the project, including the schedule

Biodev provides technical support to the City Government of Sipalay in the preparation of its Comprehensive Land Use Plan, Comprehensive Development Plan and Zoning Ordinance.

Sipalay City Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) is a long-term guide in realizing the desired spatial strategies and sectoral developments of the LGU, as well as a way to regulate private and public investment, ssubdivision developments; reclassify agricultural lands into non-agricultural uses; prescribe reasonable limits and restraints on the use of property within the city (Sec. 458, 2, vi-x). Being comprehensive in geographical scope, the CLUP covers the entire territorial jurisdiction of the city including those areas that are traditionally the domain of the national government.

The Comprehensive Development Plan is referred to in the Local Government Code as the “long-term, medium-term and annual socio-economic development plan” that local Development Councils are directed to prepare (Sec. 109, a, i), or the “integrated economic, social and physical plan” [Sec. 476 (b) (1)] that the CPDO is tasked to prepare and submit for consideration by the City Development Council. It is comprehensive in that it covers the five development sectors (social, economic, environmental, Physical and Institutional) and their respective sub-sectors.