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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) 
OF THE PHILIPPDTES 
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Second Regular Session 
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Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Small communities are vital components of the nation's economic, social, 
agricultural, historic, and cultural fabric. Our national character has been shaped by and is 
forever tied to the landscape of surrounding small communities. A growing number of 
small communities are facing significant challenges that place their long-term viability at 
risk, including economic hardship, declining population, eroding tax bases, and 
environmental pressures. Revitalizing and strengthening small communities begins by 
helping residents of those communities to articulate and formalize their vision for the 
future and to develop an action plan to achieve that vision, including in the areas of 
economic development, agriculture, tourism, transportation, land use, education, 
recreation, and culture, and by understanding the amenity characteristics of landscapes. 
In many cases, a community's vision for the future is rooted in and inseparable 
from the landscape, including the natural and built environments. Landscape architects 
have the education, training, and skills, including in the areas of community involvement 
and public participation, land use planning, design, project visualization techniques, 
scenic resource assessment, mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIs), 
environmental analysis, and environmental psychology, that ideally qualify them to lead 
community visioning efforts. 
Expanding national support for small community visioning is an investment in the 
future of small communities and will leverage additional public and private sector 
participation in such efforts. Successful community visioning efforts have yielded 


tangible results with regard to the enhancement of transportation corridors, economic 
development initiatives, land use policies, conservation of natural and community 
resources, community master plans, and park and recreation plans. 
This bill seeks to develop and facilitate innovative visions that help small 
communities address pressing local needs; facilitate coordination between small 
communities, land-grant and other universities, and design professionals; encourage 
public-private partnerships; and translate the small community's vision into images of 
design projects that integrate physical planning and design techniques, with sustainable 
community action, at the appropriate geographic scale. 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
Second Regular Session 
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S. No. 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
1 
AN ACT 
IMPROVING THE CAPBILITY OF SMALL COMMUNITIES TO COORDINATE 
WITH LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS AND DESIGN PROFESSIONALS IN 
DEVELOPING A VISION TO ADDRESS THEIR LOCAL NEEDS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Small Community 
Visioning Improvement Act of 2009.” 
SECTION 2. Community Visioning Pilot Initiative. - The Secretary of Tourism 
shall make grants to eligible recipients for the purposes of carrying out small community 
visioning processes. In order to be eligible for a grant under this section, the applicant 
must use a small community visioning process that includes the following: 
A. 
Soliciting and Organizing Public Pavticipation - The broadest segment 
of the public is invited to participate, and the process is structured to 
maximize participation and maintain efficiency. 
Needs Determination - The small community determines whether the 
community requires assistance through this process with a broad-based 
needs assessment or whether it has identified a specific need through a 
prior community-based process that the community wants to address 
through the small community visioning process. The community’s 
needs may include the areas of economic development, transportation, 
land use, agriculture, and the natural, cultwal, and aesthetic values of 
the community. 
B. 


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C. 
Developing Design Options - Members of the community engage in a 
series of discussions to articulate their vision for addressing the 
identified need. The design professionals facilitate the discussions, 
help members of the community identify areas of consensus, and begin 
translating the vision into images, including sketches, maps, digital 
images, computer simulations, and design concepts. The vision and 
design options are refined in an ongoing dialogue until community 
consensus is reached and physical designs for 1 or more projects are 
finalized. 
Implementation Planning - Design professionals, members of the 
public, and others develop and finalize a plan that describes the 
specific steps the community would take to achieve its vision. At a 
minimum, the plan should identify the following: 
D. 
1. projects relating to that vision, including projects the 
community can undertake and complete with existing 
resources, personnel, and fimding, and projects which the 
community could undertake and complete only with the 
infusion of additional resources, personnel, and fimding; 
2. government agencies, nongovernmental entities, and other 
potential partners that could participate in implementation; 
and 
3. possible sources of public and private funding to achieve 
the vision. 
SECTION 3. Application Process for Grunt Eligibility. - Not later than 60 days 
after the Secretary issues final regulations, the Secretary shall solicit applications for 
grants from eligible grant recipients. The application shall include the following: 


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SECTION 4. Grunt Regulations. - Within 180 days after the effectivity date of 
this Act and after opportunity for public comment, the Secretary shall issue such 
regulations as the Secretary deems appropriate to carry out this section. 
A. 
A statement of the needs that the small community would address 
through the small community visioning process, or a statement that the 
small community requires assistance to identify such a need. 
A brief description of process the small community used or will use to 
involve a diverse cross-seclion of residents of the community in 
determining the need. 
A description of how the applicant will use the services of design 
professionals or university programs with demonstrated expertise in 
small community visioning processes in providing assistance to the 
small community. 
A description of how the applicant will involve a diverse cross-section 
of residents of the small community in the visioning process. 
A description of the phases of the visioning process, the anticipated 
outcomes of each phase, and of the visioning initiative as a whole. 
A detailed budget for the visioning process, including the Contribution 
to be provided by the applicant pursuant to subsection (h) or a request 
for waiver of such a contribution. 
A description of the steps the applicant will take to do the following: 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
F. 
G. 
1. assess the effectiveness of the visioning process in 
addressing the community's need; and 
2. integrate the findings of the needs determination into 
ongoing efforts to implement the vision developed pursuant 
to this section. 


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SECTION 5. Grant Amounts and Administrative Expenses. - A grant under this 
section shall not exceed one million pesos (Pl,OOO,OOO.OO) for each grantee. 
A. 
Administrative Expenses - The Secretary may use not more than 20 
percent of the total amount appropriated under this section for each 
fiscal year to administer this section. 
Limitation - A grant under this section shall not be used to develop or 
produce construction documents. 
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B. 
SECTION 6. Report to Congress. - Not later than 3 years afler the date of the 
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees in the 
Senate and House of Representatives a report that describes, at a minimum- 
A. 
the most effective practices and procedures used to assist communities 
in the small community visioning process; 
examples of the public-private partnerships developed to identify and 
implement community goals; 
examples of the tangible, physical outcomes of small community 
visioning processes funded under this section; 
recommendations for improving, strengthening, and expanding the 
program canied out under this section; and 
a list of all grantees under this section, the province in which the 
grantees are located, and grant amounts received by each grantee. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
SECTION 7. Appropriation. - The amount of twenty million pesos 
(P20,000,000.00) is hereby authorized to be appropriated for the grants to implement the 
community visioning processes. Thereafter, the funds necessary for the operation of the 
program shall be included in the General Appropriations Act. 


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SECTION 8. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part thereof is held invalid 
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall 
remain valid and subsisting. 
SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decree or issuance, 
executive orders, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule and regulation contrary 
to, or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, modified, or 
amended accordingly. 
SECTION 10. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
following its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,