Malacañang has transferred the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) under the Office of the President to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The transfer was made through Executive Order (EO) No. 45 dated Oct. 25.

Under the EO, the move was part of the administration’s rightsizing policy.

“Pursuant to the rightsizing policy of the national government, it is imperative to streamline and rationalize the functional relationships of agencies with complementary mandates to promote coordination, efficiency, and organizational coherence in the bureaucracy,” the EO read.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who signed the EO, also noted that a strong organization link between the NEDA and DAP is necessary to bolster the development and implementation of the latter’s human resource development programs, research, data collection, and information services, as well as to ensure consistency of its research, education and training with the national government’s socioeconomic agenda.

DAP was created by Presidential Decree No. 205 and is presently attached to the OP.

It was established to promote and support the country’s development efforts by carrying out human resource programs that are designed to instill development perspective and advance management capability in the key sectors of the government and the economy.

It was moved to the NEDA as it is the primary agency responsible to formulate continuing, coordinated, and fully integrated social and economies policies, plans, and programs.

It is also tasked to strengthen the analytical, operational and evaluation capacity of civil servants, and raising the productivity performance of agencies identified in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 to improve bureaucratic efficiency.