Project Title & Location
FORT MAGSAYSAY DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK PLAN
Laur, Nueva Ecija

Client
Army Corps of Engineers
Philippine Army, AFP
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig

Project Completion
2004

Associated Firms
PROS A&E Partnership
ECT Consulting Engineers
Leo Parinas and Associates Architects

Services Provided
- Development Framework Planning

From an original military reservation of about 50,000 hectares, Fort Magsaysay, the home of the First Tabak Division, has dwindled today to 2,000 hectares. By demands and exigencies of land for development and larger policies, the original reservation has, through presidential proclamation, is occupied by Palayan City. The Dingalan Bay Area is said to form part of the military reserve. Because of strategic advantages, Dingalan is still used for naval and marine exercises. There is also rampant illegal logging in the area, primarily due to the absence of funds to protect the forestlands of the reservation. Several parcels have been declared alienable and disposable, causing even the military camp proper to have land claimants.

The opportunity to properly identify, describe and integrate the areas for military use is realized when the Army Corps of Engineers is provided with enough funds to start the tasks of delineating the extent of the fort. Together with this task, the military establishments mutually approve the development scenarios and accompanying framework plans from alternatives and concepts. This approach widens not only security measures for the state, but also on how environmental security can be sustained with the military as steward of the lands in the reservation.

With Dingalan Bay in the east, and the watersheds of Pantabangan in the north, the mandate of Fort Magsaysay becomes doubly important for the food security in the region. Consequently, the development concepts for the Fort have to incorporate an ecological policy where eco-tourism can be utilized as a means of making aware the military's role in environmental sustainability, history and culture. The introduction of kibbutz-style settlements or villages to promote the defense linkage of Fort Magsaysay with the Dingalan Bay can also be introduced for off-camp housing.