Officials of UST Manila Annex (UST MAx) in the City of Santa Rosa joined the first Stakeholder Consultation and Land Use Validation Workshop for the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), Zoning Ordinance (ZO) and other Disaster-related Assessment for the City of Santa Rosa. The UST officials, Prof. Philipina A. Marcelo, PhD, the Assistant to the Rector for UST MAx, and Asst. Prof. Shikara P. Jose, M.Sc., the Project Management Assistant, are among the few representatives of the City’s education sector selected by the City Government to provide inputs in updating the City’s CLUP and ZO, which will be used for Fiscal Years 2026-2036. The three-day Workshop was facilitated by Palafox Associates and was held at the Microtel by Wyndham at South Forbes in Silang, Cavite on 14-16 October 2025.
At the end of the Workshop, the participants were able to contribute to reformulating the Mission and Vision of the City, updating the CLUP, revisiting the City’s Zoning, assessing disaster-related concerns, and identifying collaborative strategies to turn current challenges to opportunities for inclusive growth. Besides the City of Santa Rosa’s CLUP Technical Working Group, Provincial Land Use Committee and other concerned offices at the LGU, the UST MAx officials had the opportunity to interact and work with representatives from select private companies in Santa Rosa, national government agencies, civil society organizations, UP Los Baños, and Palafox Associates during the workshop.
As the CLUP is a vital instrument used by the local government unit (LGU) in coming up with their long-term inclusive development plans, inputs from stakeholders are very important. As education is one of the most important components of the social sector, especially for its role in developing the City’s human capital, the UST MAx officials appreciate that the LGU value UST’s contributions in consultative workshops such as this. Their participation was encouraged and supported by the Rector, Very Rev. Fr. Richard G. Ang, O.P., PhD. The workshop is the latest in a growing list of collaborations with the local government as UST Max gets its research and innovation operations underway. to collaborate with the Santa Rosa LGU and the various sectors in the City to integrate the development of UST MAx with that of the City. This allows UST to contribute significantly to the City’s sustained growth, aligned with the University’s general objective to participate actively in nation building and achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) through collaboration and forging partnerships.