President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. met with executives of architecture and urban planning firm Palafox at Malacañan Palace on Thursday to review a proposed comprehensive urban, environmental and infrastructure master plan for Banaue and neighboring rice terrace municipalities in Ifugao.
The proposed master plan is envisioned as a “framework for the conservation, revitalization and sustainable development of the Ifugao Rice Terraces and surrounding communities.”
The initiative aims to address severe ongoing challenges, including the “continuing deterioration due to disruption of the ecosystem, rapid outmigration of the local population and inadequate income among farmers tending the terraces.”
To counter these issues, Palafox executives presented strategies focused on developing ecotourism while safeguarding Ifugao culture and heritage.
Built by the Indigenous Peoples of Ifugao, the 2,000-year-old agricultural landscape is protected as a National Treasure under Presidential Decree No. 260 and Republic Act No. 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.
Internationally recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 and a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2011, the terraces previously faced threats of erosion, neglect, and abandonment that placed them on the endangered World Heritage list from 2001 until their removal in 2012.
The new restoration framework also comes in the wake of recent environmental damage, after portions of the ancient terraces suffered mudslides and rockslides when Super Typhoon Uwan struck Northern Luzon in November 2025.