The Metro Manila Council (MMC) and University of the Philippines Resilience Institute forged ties on Friday, Feb. 27, to boost existing transport and resilience initiatives currently being done by local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila.

MMC President and San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora led the meeting with UP President Angelo Jimenez and key academic leaders, including UP Resilience Institute Executive Director Alfredo Mahar Lagmay and National Center for Transportation Studies Director Jun Castro, at UP Diliman in Quezon City with the objective of enhancing ongoing projects and expanding their impact on the public.

"The Metro Manila Council already has ongoing collaborative projects with UP focusing on traffic systems analysis, transport modeling, flood risk assessment, and disaster resilience planning across the National Capital Region (NCR)," Zamora said, adding that he intends to review these initiatives to determine how they may be further strengthened through improved data integration, enhanced technical modeling, and clearer institutional frameworks.

During the meeting, Zamora and the university agreed to begin drafting a formal framework institutionalizing long-term cooperation, resource-sharing, and capacity building which will establish mechanisms for sustained technical engagement across disciplines, reinforcing a unified, evidence-based, and whole-of-governance model that can be replicated across cities and municipalities nationwide.

Under the proposed framework, UP will support San Juan City, the MMC, and the LCP through technical assistance, research collaboration, and capacity-building programs across key governance pillars, including:

• Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) through the UP Resilience Institute, with emphasis on unified planning, hazard mapping, risk analytics, and coordinated emergency response systems;

• Traffic and Transport Management through the National Center for Transportation Studies, focusing on science-based traffic modeling, systems optimization, and evidence-based policy interventions;

• Community Organizing and Gender and Development (GAD) initiatives through the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies and other relevant academic units;

• Child Development and Family Welfare Programs through UP’s Home Economics programs;

• Public Administration and Good Governance through the National College of Public Administration and Governance;

• Urban Planning and Development through the School of Urban and Regional Planning;

• Urban Agriculture and Food Security initiatives through UP Los Baños;

• Public Health Programs and Systems Strengthening through UP Manila;

• Tourism Best Practices and Sustainable Destination Development through UP’s Asian Institute of Tourism;

• Engineering Interventions and Infrastructure Solutions through UP’s National Engineering Center and allied units.

Zamora emphasized that the partnership envisions a comprehensive, whole-of-governance approach rather than isolated sectoral interventions.

“I am excited to partner with UP and to bring along the Metro Manila Council and the League of Cities of the Philippines in this undertaking. This collaboration will provide San Juan with access to UP’s technical experts and scientists who can help us further improve governance and public services through data-driven and science-based solutions," Zamora said, adding that San Juan City will serve as a pilot site for integrating these multi-sectoral approaches into a cohesive governance model.

“We are happy to bridge UP with other local government units across the country. The many technical and scientific approaches that UP can provide will greatly enhance problem-solving and strengthen good governance not just in San Juan, but throughout the Philippines,” he added.

For his part, Jimenez underscored the university's public service mandate saying that making its scientists, researchers, and experts available to local government units will significantly enhance the quality of services that government provides to the Filipino people.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lagmay described the initiative as a strategic opportunity with national implications.

“This is a rare and meaningful 3-in-1 opportunity where UP will cooperate with an LGU, while also working with the Metro Manila Council and the League of Cities of the Philippines. San Juan can serve as a pilot not only in Metro Manila but potentially for more than 1,000 cities and municipalities nationwide. Hopefully, this cooperation will become the catalyst needed to unify the separate disaster risk reduction and management plans of LGUs into one cohesive framework and coordinated response system," Lagmay said.

Castro likewise underscored the operational value of sustained LGU partnerships.

“This partnership provides the venue to implement our traffic management projects that have been constrained by limited budgets. Through collaboration with LGUs, sound and science-based approaches to traffic management can finally be operationalized at the local level," he stressed.

Serving as League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) national president, Zamora said he seeks to replicate and scale these best practices to other member cities of the LCP, ensuring that science-based transport planning and disaster preparedness frameworks can be adopted nationwide following their localization.

"The meeting underscores a shared commitment to data-driven governance, metropolitan coordination, and the development of scalable urban resilience solutions for cities across the Philippines," Zamora noted.