A CDP is the multi-sectoral development plan that Section 106 of the Local Government Code (RA 7160) requires every LGU to have, initiated by its local development council and approved by its sanggunian. DILG's own guides call it distinct from the CLUP: the CLUP is the territorial land-use framework, the CDP is the action plan across sectors. The most recent joint circular we could find on this, JMC No. 1, s. 2024, defines the city or municipal CDP as a six-year plan and puts its preparation in the third quarter of the election year, with sanggunian approval no later than the first quarter of the following year. The official forms are in DILG's CDP Illustrative Guide, linked below, not copied here.
If you searched for "CDP LGU" or "comprehensive development plan template", you most likely want one of three answers: what the plan actually is, how it differs from the CLUP, and which DILG document an LGU should follow today. This guide answers each from the statute and the circulars themselves, with the source named beside each claim, and links to DILG's own files instead of hosting copies.
| Legal basis | RA 7160, Secs. 106 to 109 and 113 (development councils); Sec. 305(i) (budgets follow approved plans) |
|---|---|
| Initiated by | The local development council (Sec. 106(a)); at city and municipal level it is headed by the mayor (Sec. 107(b)) |
| Approved by | The sanggunian (Sec. 106(a)) |
| Plan period | Six years for a city or municipal CDP (JMC No. 1, s. 2024, glossary) |
| Parts | Ecological Profile, Sectoral Development Plan, Implementation Instruments (JMC No. 1, s. 2024, glossary) |
| Prepared following | DILG's CDP Guide, CDP Illustrative Guide and supplemental guidelines (JMC No. 1, s. 2024, clauses 7.2.3 and 8.9) |
| Not the same as | The CLUP, which is prepared following DHSUD's CLUP Guidebooks (clause 8.10) |
Section 106 of RA 7160 requires each local government unit to have a comprehensive multi-sectoral development plan, initiated by its development council and approved by its sanggunian. The council's role is to assist the sanggunian in setting the direction of economic and social development and in coordinating development efforts within the LGU's territory.
Section 109(a) lists what the provincial, city and municipal development councils do, among them: formulate long-term, medium-term and annual socio-economic development plans and policies; formulate the medium-term and annual public investment programs; appraise and prioritize programs and projects; and coordinate, monitor and evaluate their implementation.
Three more sections complete the picture. Section 107(b) puts the mayor at the head of a city or municipal development council, with all punong barangays, the chair of the sanggunian's appropriations committee, the congressman or a representative, and NGO representatives who make up at least one-fourth of the members. Section 113 gives every council a secretariat, headed at the provincial, city and municipal level by the planning and development coordinator. Section 114(a) sends the policies, programs and projects a council proposes to the sanggunian for appropriate action.
Section 305(i) ties the plan to the budget: local budgets shall operationalize approved local development plans. DILG's CDP Guide cites that directive as the one the Local Development Investment Program puts into effect. For the rest of the Code, see RA 7160 explained; the statute text is on Lawphil.
Sa madaling sabi: the CLUP says where development can go, and the CDP says what the LGU will do, sector by sector, over the plan period. DILG's CDP Guide (2008) says the two plans are distinct and separate but intimately related, and that "comprehensive" means territorial in the CLUP and multi-sectoral in the CDP.
| Topic | CDP | CLUP |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Multi-sectoral development: social, economic, infrastructure, environment and institutional | All lands within the LGU's territory, including municipal waters: their allocation, use, development and management |
| Where the Code puts it | Secs. 106 and 109: the local development council | Secs. 447, 458 and 468: the sanggunian |
| Prepared following | DILG's CDP Guide, CDP Illustrative Guide and supplemental guidelines | DHSUD's CLUP Guidebooks and supplemental guidelines |
| Review and approval | Approved by the city or municipal sanggunian. The province also assesses approved CDPs of component cities and municipalities with DILG's CDP Assessment Tool; that is an assessment, not an approval. | For component cities and municipalities: reviewed by the Provincial Land Use Committee and approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (JMC clause 11.9). See CLUP requirements. |
| Plan period | Six years (city or municipal CDP) | Set in DHSUD's CLUP guidance. See CLUP validity period. |
Sources: JMC No. 1, s. 2024 (glossary items on the CDP, the CLUP and the Local Development Indicator System; clauses 7.2.3, 8.9, 8.10, 11.9, 11.10); RA 7160 Secs. 106, 109, 447, 458, 468; DILG MC 2021-037 on provincial assessment of approved CDPs.
Local planning guidance is layered: a statute, DILG guidebooks, and joint circulars that set the calendar. This is what each piece is, with the issuer and year as printed on the document.
| Document | Issuer and year | What it does for the CDP |
|---|---|---|
| Guide to CDP Preparation for LGUs (the CDP Guide), MC No. 2008-156 | DILG, Bureau of Local Government Development, 2008 | The original guidebook, in four parts: organizing the planning structure, preparing the CDP, implementing it, and monitoring and evaluation. The circular directs LGUs to use it for the CDP and the LDIP. |
| Local Planning Illustrative Guide: Preparing and Updating the CDP (the CDP Illustrative Guide) | DILG, developed with EU support under the LGU PFM 2 Project | A simplified version of the CDP Guide that also updates it. It carries the required forms (Annex B) and, per JMC No. 1, s. 2024, a process for reviewing the CDP and the LDIP. |
| CDP Assessment Tool: MC No. 2018-172 and MC No. 2021-037 (March 31, 2021) | DILG | Provinces assess the approved CDPs of component cities and municipalities with the tool. The 2021 update added disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation indicators to test whether a CDP is risk-informed. See CDRA. |
| CDP+ Manual and Easy Guide | DILG | Listed on DILG's Resources and Downloads page. DILG's October 15, 2025 news item names them as aids for risk-informed, climate-responsive plans. |
| Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1, s. 2024 | DILG, DHSUD, NEDA, DBM and DOF, July 29, 2024 | Updated guidelines on harmonizing local development planning, land use planning, investment programming and budgeting. It replaces the 2016 edition of the Synchronized Local Planning and Budgeting Calendar with the SLPBC 2023 (Annex B) and says the CDP is prepared following the CDP Guide and DILG's supplemental guidelines. |
One name has changed since that circular was signed. It names NEDA, which RA 12145 (April 10, 2025) reorganized into the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev). See the Act on Lawphil.
Is there anything newer? DILG's October 2025 news item describes an updated SLPBC under a joint circular with DBM, DOF, DHSUD and DEPDev, with city and municipal CDPs submitted by March 2026, which is consistent with the July 2024 calendar. We found no later joint circular on the CDP framework on DBM's list of joint circulars, but check DILG's issuances page for anything newer before relying on a date.
JMC No. 1, s. 2024 defines the CDP as containing three parts: an Ecological Profile, a Sectoral Development Plan and Implementation Instruments. The 2008 CDP Guide fills those in:
| By July of the election year | Planning and development coordinators, budget officers and treasurers update the planning database (clause 8.4) |
|---|---|
| By the last day of the 4th week of September of every election year | Local development councils are reconstituted (clause 8.5) |
| Third quarter of the election year | CDP preparation (clause 8.15.3) |
| Not later than the first quarter of the following year | Approval of the CDP by the sangguniang panlungsod or bayan (clause 8.15.3) |
| Not later than March of the following year | Approval of the city or municipal development investment program (clause 8.15.4) |
| On or before June 7 of every year | Approval of the AIP (clause 8.15.5), before budget preparation begins (clause 8.6) |
| Between CDP cycles | The council, with the finance committee, updates the investment program, financing plan and resource mobilization program each year and draws the AIP from it (clauses 8.18 and 8.19) |
The quarter and date rows come from clause 8.15, which frames them as the schedule LGUs are enjoined to follow when providing venues for national and regional agency interface during planning, investment programming and budgeting. The full calendar is Annex B (SLPBC 2023) of the circular. Confirm exact dates there and with your DILG field office.
DILG publishes the CDP forms, so this site does not host copies. Start at DILG's Resources and Downloads page, which lists the CDP Guide, the Local Planning Illustrative Guide, the CDP Illustrative Guide Annexes, the CDP+ Manual and Easy Guide, the Synchronized Local Planning and Budgeting Calendar and the Sourcebook on the Rationalized Local Planning System. The calendar file linked there is the SLPBC Revised 2016 poster, which JMC No. 1, s. 2024 replaced with the SLPBC 2023 (Annex B of the circular).
A CDP is built by planners and approved by officials, and the judgment stays with them. Software can take the paper chase out of the work around it. Nova Gov takes on scoped, custom builds around a planning office's or consultancy's own workflow and data, as paid custom work: a tracker for the data requests that feed the Ecological Profile, a milestone tracker across the CDP, CLUP and AIP calendar, templates for sectoral studies, or a review portal. They are built to order, and they do not replace planners or DILG's own systems, such as the E-LDIP System that JMC No. 1, s. 2024 describes for generating the digital LDIP. Nova Gov does not prepare or sign plans: RA 10587 places plan preparation within licensed environmental planning practice (Sec. 5) and makes it unlawful to offer planning services without a license (Sec. 31(a)). Software for urban planners explains how an engagement works.
The CLUP is the land-use plan: it sets out how all lands within an LGU's territory, including municipal waters, are allocated, used, developed and managed. The CDP is the multi-sectoral development plan: it sets sectoral goals, strategies, programs and projects across the social, economic, infrastructure, environment and institutional sectors. DILG's CDP Guide calls the two plans distinct and separate but closely related, and describes the CDP as an action plan that carries out priority programs and projects in the proper locations, guided by the CLUP's location policies. They also have different owners in the law: the CDP comes from the local development council under Sections 106 and 109 of RA 7160, while the CLUP comes from the sanggunian under Sections 447, 458 and 468.
From DILG, not from a third party. DILG's Resources and Downloads page lists the CDP Guide, the Local Planning Illustrative Guide: Preparing and Updating the Comprehensive Development Plan, the CDP Illustrative Guide Annexes, the CDP+ Manual and Easy Guide, and the Synchronized Local Planning and Budgeting Calendar. The forms to fill in are in the Illustrative Guide (Annex B, Required Templates for CDP Preparation), and JMC No. 1, s. 2024 carries the LDIP and AIP summary forms as Annexes C and E. The calendar file on that page is the 2016 revised edition; the SLPBC 2023 is Annex B of JMC No. 1, s. 2024. Nova Gov links to these files but does not host copies, so you always get the version DILG currently publishes.
Under Section 106 of RA 7160 the CDP is initiated by the LGU's local development council and approved by its sanggunian. The city or municipal development council is headed by the mayor (Section 107), and its secretariat is headed by the planning and development coordinator (Section 113), whose duties include formulating integrated development plans and policies for the council's consideration (Section 476). DILG's Illustrative Guide has the city or municipal planning and development coordinator, assisted by the DILG local government operations officer, identify the planning team and prepare the executive order and workplan for the mayor's approval. The council endorses the finished plan and the sanggunian approves it. A province's assessment of the approved CDPs of its component cities and municipalities is a separate step and is not the approval.
Six years for a city or municipal CDP. JMC No. 1, s. 2024 defines the CDP as a six-year multi-sectoral plan formulated at the city or municipal level, and DILG's CDP Illustrative Guide shows it as a 6-year plan, shorter than the CLUP and longer than the 3-year Executive-Legislative Agenda that matches an elected official's term. The 2008 CDP Guide was more flexible: it allowed a minimum of three years, treated six years as the medium term, and said any longer period should preferably be in multiples of three. If your office is unsure which period applies, ask your DILG field office.
The Local Development Investment Program (LDIP) is the link between the plan and the budget. It translates the CDP into a prioritized list of programs and projects matched with financing, and JMC No. 1, s. 2024 describes it as covering a three to six-year period. DILG's Illustrative Guide describes a three-year LDIP, with a second three-year LDIP prepared after the first. The Annual Investment Program (AIP) is the annual slice of the LDIP: the resources needed for that year's programs, projects and activities. Section 305(i) of RA 7160 says local budgets shall operationalize approved local development plans, and the 2024 circular has the sanggunian approve the AIP before budget preparation, on or before June 7 of each year. The Executive-Legislative Agenda is a separate three-year document that follows the officials' term.
Nova Gov does not host CDP samples or templates, because DILG publishes the forms and a copy here could go out of date. DILG's CDP Illustrative Guide includes an executive order template and a sample harmonized workplan, among its required forms, and the 2008 CDP Guide sets out a suggested outline for a CDP document, from the adopting resolution through the sectoral plans and the LDIP. A finished CDP is the adopting LGU's own document, so its planning and development office (the CPDO or MPDO) is the place to ask for it.
Circulars change. Check DILG's issuances page for anything that postdates the documents above. This guide is plain-language information, not legal advice.
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