I COMMENTED last week on that timeless image of bayanihan where a community lifts and relocates the entire structure of a house on the collective shoulders of its able members. While edifying the imagery as the ultimate expression of social cohesion and mutual help, I also lamented that it implied lack of community planning. I thought that if there had been adequate land use planning, there would have been no need to relocate structures in the first place.

If we look farther afield, we can see how much of our worries today have largely resulted from lack of planning yesterday.