The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is planning to propose an executive order that will strengthen the regional development councils’ (RDC) role in formulating regional development plans and investment programs.
NEDA, along with RDC chairpersons, met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to discuss various regional development initiatives aligned with the strategies contained in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 and Regional Development Plans.
NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan emphasized that the president's support opens up significant opportunities for strategic prioritization of regional investments and budget allocation.
“The importance that the President placed on the RDCs has inspired our Chairpersons to actively lead in the many regional development efforts across the country,” Balisacan noted.
“RDCs play a vital role in steering socio-economic development at the regional and local level by bridging the gap between national agencies and local government units,” he added.
The proposed amendment seeks to build upon the foundation laid by EO 325 (s. 1996) by addressing some of the perceived weaknesses of the RDCs.
These include their limited presence in the local government units (LGU), funding of priority regional programs and projects, and the lack of budget to support RDC operations, including monitoring and capacity-building activities.
“With these amendments, the RDCs will be given the mandate to identify priority inter-LGU and special development projects and further pursue capacity-building activities at the local level,” the NEDA chief stated.
Balisacan also underscored that the passage of this EO will complement the NEDA’s ongoing regional development efforts.
These initiatives include the Regional-National Investment Programming (RNIP) dialogues, capacity-building activities for monitoring and evaluation, the conduct of studies to effectively implement the full devolution initiative, and the approval of game-changing Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs) and public-private partnership projects (PPPs), among others.
During the meeting, the RDC chairpersons also presented their proposed priority programs and projects in their respective regions for the 2025 and 2026 budgets.
“With even brighter economic prospects on our country’s horizon, it is indeed high time that we strengthen the mandate of our RDCs to make them more effective at serving as the highest policymaking and coordinating body in our regions,” Balisacan said.
“They will also play a crucial role as we approach the operationalization of the full devolution process,” he further said.
The RDC serves as the counterpart of the NEDA Board at the sub-national level and is the primary institution that coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the region.