Locational Clearance: Who Issues Yours, and Why
LGU · permits
Quick answer
EO 72 devolved the power to issue locational clearances for locally significant projects to cities and municipalities with an approved comprehensive land use plan. All projects are presumed locally significant unless the NEDA Board declares otherwise, so the default counter is your own city hall.
Every figure on this page is from LawPhil Project's own published documents.
Last verified 1 source, listed below
Executive Order No. 72, s. 1993, with Executive Order No. 71, s. 1993 and Republic Act No. 112011. PHGuides is independent and not affiliated with any agency.
Search for a locational clearance and most results send you to a national agency. For almost every project that is the wrong counter, and has been since 1993.
Executive Order No. 72, signed 25 March 1993, devolved the power to issue them. The operative sentence is short:
The authority of the HLRB to issue locational clearances for locally-significant projects is hereby devolved to cities and municipalities with comprehensive land use plans reviewed and approved in accordance with this Order.
Which counter is yours
| Project | Who issues the clearance |
|---|---|
| Locally significant | Your city or municipality |
| Of vital national or regional economic or environmental significance | The national board |
That looks like a judgement call until you read the next line of Section 3(a):
Unless otherwise declared by the NEDA Board, all projects shall be presumed locally-significant.
The presumption runs toward your city hall. National handling is the exception, and it takes a NEDA Board declaration to trigger it. So unless someone has told you your project is nationally significant, it is not.
Why there is no national fee to quote
Section 3(b) is explicit:
All fees and other charges previously collected by the HLRB for the issuance of locational clearances shall now accrue entirely to the city or municipality concerned.
The fee went with the function. No national schedule survived the devolution, so no honest page can tell you the amount. Your LGU’s own ordinance is the only place it is written down.
Where the clearance actually comes from
A locational clearance is not a free-standing rule. It checks your proposed use against a plan your LGU wrote and then enacted as law.
| Step | Who |
|---|---|
| Formulate or update the comprehensive land use plan | City or municipal development council |
| Provide technical support | Planning and development coordinator, and the agriculturist |
| Enact the plan into a zoning ordinance | The sanggunian, under Articles 107 and 108 of the LGC IRR |
| Review and approve the plan, for component cities and municipalities | The province, through the sangguniang panlalawigan |
| Assist that review | The Provincial Land Use Committee |
| Review plans of provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities | The Regional Land Use Committee, ratified nationally |
That is why the document is sometimes handed over as a zoning clearance and sometimes as a locational clearance. Both certify the same thing: that what you propose to do fits what the zoning ordinance allows where you propose to do it.
The Provincial Land Use Committee is chaired by the provincial planning and development coordinator and seats the provincial agriculturist, an NGO representative, and 7 national agencies: the housing board, DENR, DAR, DTI, DPWH, DOT and DILG.
Which plans get reviewed where
Section 2 splits the review by the kind of local government, and each route rests on a different issuance.
| Whose plan | Reviewed by | Under |
|---|---|---|
| Component cities and municipalities | The province, through the sangguniang panlalawigan | Section 468(a-2-vii) of the Local Government Code |
| Provinces, highly urbanized cities, independent component cities | Regional Land Use Committee, for consistency with the Regional Physical Framework Plan | Section 2(d) |
| The same, then ratified nationally | The housing board | LOI 729 s. 1978, EO 648 s. 1981 and RA 7279 |
| Cities and municipalities of Metropolitan Manila | The housing board directly | EO 392 s. 1990 |
Metro Manila is the exception worth noting: its cities and municipalities skip the provincial layer entirely, because they have no province above them.
RA 7279 is the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, and Section 2(b) requires the Provincial Land Use Committee to ensure local plans support its objectives.
The deadlines in the Order
| Step | Limit |
|---|---|
| Review of a comprehensive land use plan | 3 months from receipt |
| If the reviewer misses that | The plan is deemed consistent with law and therefore valid |
| Information system to monitor land use changes and plan implementation | Within 60 days of effectivity |
| LGUs with plans approved not earlier than 1 January 1989 | Issue clearances, provided they update the plan within 5 years |
The 3-month rule is the same shape as the deemed-approved rule in RA 11032, and it works the same way: silence past the deadline counts as approval. The anti red tape act guide covers that mechanism for your own applications.
What else moved to the LGU at the same time
EO 71, signed two days earlier on 23 March 1993, handed cities and municipalities the neighbouring powers.
| Devolved by EO 71 | Under |
|---|---|
| Approval of preliminary and final subdivision schemes and development plans | PD 957 as amended |
| The same for economic and socialized housing, plus individual or group building and occupancy permits | BP 220 |
| Resolving opposition to the issuance of development permits | HLRB rules of procedure |
| Monitoring land development and housing construction | |
| Assessment and collection of the fees for all of it |
The board kept everything not expressly devolved, and local chief executives designate enforcement officers who remain under its functional supervision.
The agency has changed name twice, and the split matters
This is where most write-ups go wrong. RA 11201, approved 14 February 2019, did two separate things.
| DHSUD was created | By consolidating the HUDCC and the HLURB |
| It holds | The planning, policy-making, regulatory, coordination and monitoring role |
| HSAC was created | By reconstituting the HLURB under Section 12 |
| It holds | Only the adjudicatory function, attached to DHSUD for policy and planning |
So “the HLURB is now DHSUD” is half the story. The regulatory side became DHSUD; the deciding-of-disputes side became the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission. EO 71 and EO 72 still say HLRB because they were written in 1993 and have not been reworded.
Where this sits in the permit run
| Document | Published figure | Where it is covered |
|---|---|---|
| Mayor’s permit, which consolidates zoning clearance into one form | 3, 7, 20 or 45 working days | The mayor’s permit guide |
| Building permit, where the zoning check happens again | Issued in 15 days, void after 1 year or 120 days idle | The building permit guide |
| Occupancy permit | Within 30 days of final inspection | The occupancy permit guide |
| Sanitary permit | Inspection at least every 6 months | The sanitary permit guide |
For a business permit you no longer queue separately. RA 11032 requires zoning clearance to be consolidated into the unified application form alongside the building clearance and the BFP fire clearance.
What this page does not cover
Neither Executive Order sets a national fee, a processing time for issuing a clearance, or a list of documentary requirements. EO 72 assigns the fees entirely to the city or municipality, so all three are local and none is stated here.
Nor does this page cover which zone your particular lot sits in. That is in your LGU’s zoning ordinance, enacted by its own sanggunian, and it differs from one city to the next.
Related
The mayor’s permit guide covers the unified form the zoning clearance is now folded into, the building permit guide covers the second zoning check inside that permit, and the occupancy permit guide covers the certificate that decides what a finished building may lawfully be used for.
Frequently asked questions
- Who issues a locational clearance?
- Your city or municipality, in almost every case. EO 72 Section 3(a) devolved the power for locally significant projects to cities and municipalities with a comprehensive land use plan reviewed and approved under that Order.
- When is it not the LGU?
- When the project is of vital national or regional economic or environmental significance. The board keeps those. But EO 72 adds that unless the NEDA Board declares otherwise, all projects shall be presumed locally significant, so that is the exception rather than the rule.
- How much does it cost?
- No national figure exists. Section 3(b) of EO 72 provides that all fees and other charges previously collected for issuing locational clearances now accrue entirely to the city or municipality concerned, so your LGU sets the amount.
- Is this the same as a zoning clearance?
- They come from the same source. Your LGU's comprehensive land use plan is enacted by the sanggunian into a zoning ordinance, and the clearance certifies your proposed use fits what that ordinance allows for the location. LGUs label the document differently.
- Do I still queue for it separately?
- Not for a business permit. RA 11032 requires zoning clearance to be consolidated into the unified application form with the business permit. The clearance still exists as a requirement, but you no longer make a separate trip for that purpose.
- Who reviews my LGU's land use plan?
- For component cities and municipalities, the province, through the sangguniang panlalawigan, assisted by a Provincial Land Use Committee chaired by the provincial planning and development coordinator with 7 national agencies represented on it. Provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities are reviewed regionally and ratified nationally.
- What if the review drags?
- It has a deadline. Section 2(g) provides that the review shall be completed within 3 months upon receipt, otherwise the plan is deemed consistent with law and therefore valid.
- Is the HLURB still the agency?
- No, and the split matters. RA 11201, approved 14 February 2019, created DHSUD by consolidating the HUDCC and the HLURB, and gave it the regulatory role. Section 12 separately reconstituted the HLURB as the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission, which took only the adjudicatory function.