DENR to use modern mapping system in Marawi

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will be making use of a modern land mapping system to sustain order in the warravaged Marawi City.

DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu said the geographic information system (GIS) land mapping and information system will help “identify, establish, integrate, reconcile and re-establish existing technical and physical land boundaries.”

“Properties in both private and public land, formal and informal settlement descriptions and delineations in the most affected areas and other surrounding areas of Marawi City will also be included in the land mapping to collect information,” Cimatu said.

The GIS is designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data.

Utilizing the GIS-based land mapping and information system is in line with the DENR being designated as the agency in charge of the newly created land conflict management unit of Task Force BangonMarawi’s Sub-committee on Land Resources Management (SLRM).

“Both our goal and strategy is ‘Sustaining Peace and Achieving Sustainable Development Goals through Environmental Peacebuilding’ — these are the DENR’s inputs to the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Recovery and Rehabilitation Program,” Cimatu explained.

Meanwhile, DENR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations in Mindanao Michelle Angelica Go said the development of a GIS-based land mapping and information system in the area is “indispensable considering the enormity of the survey and spatial data involved.”

“The need also arises to convert, harmonize and integrate the different maps and survey data sets coming from different agencies and those which are conducted under different survey systems and integrate them into one usable spatial data framework,” Go added.