The School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) – Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), and DOST – Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), is implementing a research project, Landslide Investigations on Geohazards for Timely Advisories in the Philippines (LIGTAS), funded by the DOST – PCIEERD under the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) – Taipei Economic and Cultural Office’s (TECO) call for Volcanoes, Oceans, Typhoons, and Earthquake (VOTE) collaborative researches. The main objective of the research project is to generate site-specific rainfall-landslide thresholds for the volcanic and mineralized terranes of the Southern Tagalog region and of the Benguet province that will be the basis for the formulation of site-specific and semi-quantitative early warning systems with the following specific objectives:

1. Validate the generated rainfall-landslide threshold for the volcanic regions of the Philippines.
2. Generate rainfall-landslide thresholds for the mineralized Benguet region.
3. Identify physical controls to shallow and deep-seated rainfall-induced landslides in the mountainous area of Benguet.
4. Generate enhanced landslide susceptibility maps for the study sites.
5. Collate historical landslide occurrences and the meteorological parameters involved.
6. Collect and monitor on-the-ground weather data for improvement of radar data interpretation and forecasting.
7. Device an early warning system that will incorporate outputs from the landslides thresholds studies and weather forecasts.
8. Derive the Z-R relation for improving radar data interpretation.
9. Capacitate local partners on the collection of data and use of early warning system.