(File photo) MANILA - The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on third and final reading a measure providing for the development of sustainable cities and communities in the country. With 243 affirmative votes, 3 negative votes, and no abstention, the chamber passed House Bill 6715, which seeks to mandate all cities and municipalities, classified as urban, to conform with and implement plans, programs, and activities guided by Ambisyon 2040, as well as the Philippine Standards for Sustainable Cities and Communities. Speaker Martin Romualdez said the proposal aims to create neighborhoods that can provide decent living conditions to Filipinos, especially the poor, including comfortable shelter and recreation facilities, basic services and employment opportunities. Romualdez said poor people from rural communities migrate to cities and other urban areas principally to find jobs and earn money for their families. "We can prevent such migration if we could build sustainable urban areas, towns and communities and balance national development," he said. House Committee on Housing and Urban Development chair Jose Francisco Benitez said the development of sustainable cities and communities should be guided by the principles, concepts and commitments of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda of the United Nations. He added that urbanization should also follow the Philippine standards for sustainable cities and communities and the guiding principles of inclusive urban circular economy, spatial justice, urban renewal, urban mobility, digital connectivity, urban safety, ecological balance, disaster resilience, climate change adaptation, cultural diversity, participatory urban governance and the alignment of economic, social and environmental policies. "These objectives are ambitious, but directing the development and the planning of our cities and communities toward these goals is an urgent imperative," he said. Under the measure, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), in consultation with relevant government agencies, local government units (LGUs) civil society groups, the private sector, and the academe, shall harmonize existing national housing and urban development plans with the proposed Sustainable Cities and Communities Act. The DHSUD, in coordination with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and Philippine StatA, shall formulate a national housing and urban development plan to achieve the goals of the proposed law. National agencies and LGUs are directed to participate in the formulation of such plan. The DHSUD, in consultation with the DILG, NEDA, PSA, League of Cities of the Philippines, League of Municipalities of the Philippines, civil society groups, the private sector, and the academe, shall issue implementing rules and regulations. (PNA) }