PHILIPPINE Senators have filed a substitute bill seeking the reorganization of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) into the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPD), with the aim to streamline the agency’s functions.
Under Senate Bill No. 2878, which Senators Sherwin T. Gatchalian, Juan Miguel F. Zubiri and Joseph Victor G. Ejercito filed on Nov. 14, the proposed DEPD would be the primary national economy planning arm of the Executive branch of government.
The NEDA Board shall be reorganized into the Economic Development Council (ED Council), which will be headed by the Philippine President.
The council will be made up of the executive secretary, secretaries of DEPD, Budget and Management, Education, Energy, Finance, Health, Trade and Industry, Transportation, and Public Works among other Cabinet members.
“It shall formulate the country’s continuing, integrated, and coordinated policies, plans, and programs for national development for approval by the Economic Development Council (ED Council),” according to a copy of the measure.
The body must also meet at least on a quarterly basis to come up with programs that promote economic development and address development concerns of national importance.
The ED Council will be supported by the Development Budget Coordination, Economic Development, Investment Coordination, Social Development, Infrastructure, Tariff and Related Matters, National Land Use and Regional Development committees.
The DEPD would be headed by a secretary appointed by the Philippine President and would be tasked to advise the Cabinet on national and subnational economic and social development issues.
It will also be tasked to come up with a long-term development framework by 2050 including detailed national public investment programs involving various sectors.
“It is therefore vital that major programs and projects of different government agencies must be properly reviewed by and coordinated by a national government agency to ensure their consistency with established national and subnational priorities,” according to the bill. — John Victor D. Ordoñez