Municipal Councilor Marlo Alipon, chair of the Committee on Environment, called the meeting to order at 9:07 am to discuss the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to be entered by the Municipality of Los Baños and the DOST-PCAARRD funded project titled “Institutionalization of Guidelines on Watershed Integrated Area Land Use Planning Towards Resiliency” (WILUP) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños last October 18. The Municipal Administrator, Dr. Roberto F. Ranola Jr., Municipal Councilor, Jonsi Siytiap, Municipal Planning and Development Officers, Ms. Twila Torres and Ms. Lou Andie G. Diaz-Reyes, along with Councilor Alipon represented the municipality of Los Baños while Dr. Vida Carandang and Dr. Rex Victor Cruz along with the research associates represented the WILUP-UPLB.

During the meeting, Dr. Cruz presented a brief introduction about the WILUP Project while Dr. Carandang, as the WILUP project leader, emphasized the details related to the MOA including the revision and future plans in updating the municipality’s comprehensive land-use plan (CLUP).

Upon thorough review of the MOA, the representatives of the Los Baños LGU and the WILUP team acknowledged that the agreement could be finalized after minor revisions. The team will continue to communicate with the MPDO and SB Officers to finalize the agreement and to proceed with the activities necessary for the implementation of the project.