Ernesto M. Serote, author of major reference books in the field of environmental planning in the Philippines, served as a speaker of the Short Course on Environmental Planning (SCEnP) during its closing program held on June 26 via live conferencing.

The short course is offered by the Department of Community and Environmental Resource Planning (DCERP) of the College of Human Ecology (CHE).

Serote, who is also a lecturer at the School of Urban and Regional Planning in UP Diliman, shared his initial efforts to “rationalize” the local planning system in the country to motivate the participants as they pursue planning as a profession.

He emphasized the importance of harnessing provisions from the Local Government Code in local planning by combining the technical and political aspects in goal setting and having the implementation power to make them happen.

Serote emphasized the functions of the national government agencies or the ‘gatekeepers,’ as he called them, in rationalizing the planning system. He said that the Department of the Interior and Local Government is responsible for town and local planning, and the National Economic and Development Authority integrates these into the national goals and investment plans.

He also reiterated the impacts of donors and external consultants in planning as non-technical factors towards rationalization.

Dr. Ricardo M. Sandalo, dean of the College of Human Ecology, also gave a motivational talk after Serote. Dean Sandalo encouraged the participants to apply the theories they learned in real-life situations and continue studying and sharing new theories.

The messages were followed by a synthesis of the SCEnP program by Dr. Edgar M. Reyes, Jr. and the introduction of the Technical Assistance Program on Human Settlements Planning, the banner public service arm of DCERP, by Almira Geles L. De Mesa.

The SCEnP, which began in 2015, aims to provide a deeper understanding and knowledge of environmental planning, especially among planning practitioners, local development planning officers, and researchers. It also serves as a refresher course for those planning to take the Environmental Planning Licensure Exam.

This year, SCEnP was held from June 4-26 and was attended by 105 participants from all over the country. The event was sponsored by the Human Ecology Institute of the Philippines Inc. (HUMEIN Phils.) and supported by the UP Professional School for Agriculture and the Environment and the UP Open University Alumni Foundation, Inc. – Faculty of Management and Development Studies Alumni Chapter. (John Ceffrey L. Eligue)