NEDA AT 40 AND BEYOND.(Above) The logo of NEDA in celebration of its 40th year of existence as the government’s key planning agency in pursuing development and achieving the desired inclusive growth, leaving no one behind.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will be celebrating its 40th year anniversary on January 24, 2013, with the theme: “NEDA at 40 and beyond: Lead. Engage. Transform.” The NEDA was established pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 107, promulgated on January 24, 1973.

Development planning and the NEDA, as the government’s planning agency, have evolved in the country through the years since 1935. On September 24, 1972, Presidential Decree No. 1 issued by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos, implemented the Integrated Reorganization Plan (IRP) which restructured the bureaucracy “to promote simplicity, economy, and efficiency in the government”. The IRP created the National Economic Development Authority by merging the National Economic Council and Presidential Economic Staff, which were earlier established to undertake development planning. The IRP was envisioned to pave the way to decentralization and popularize regional policy and planning in the country.

Finally, on January 24, 1973, President Marcos signed PD No. 107, which officially established the National Economic and Development Authority as the country’s premier socioeconomic development planning agency and policy-coordinating body. This is the NEDA which has been in existence for the past 40 years, dedicatedly pursuing its functions on plan and policy formulation, investment programming, and plan and project monitoring and evaluation.

NEDA is composed of two separate and distinct entities: the Board and the Secretariat.

The NEDA Board is chaired by the President of the Republic and is primarily responsible for formulating continuing, coordinated and fully integrated social and economic policies, plans and programs through its various cabinet-level interagency committees, namely: Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), Infrastructure Committee (InfraCom), Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), Social Development Committee (SDC), Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM), Regional Development Committee (RDCom) and the National Land Use Committee (NLUC).

The NEDA Secretariat, on the other hand, serves as the research and technical staff of the NEDA Board. The NEDA Secretariat has four main Offices, namely: National Development Office (NDO) for Planning and Policy, NDO for Investment Programming, Central Support Office (CSO) and Regional Development Office (RDO), which oversees 15 Regional Offices. The NEDA Secretariat in Davao Region is the NEDA Regional Office XI which started its operations in November 1973.

In addition, seven Government institutions are attached under the NEDA Secretariat, namely: the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), National Statistics Office (NSO), Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC), Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), Tariff Commission (TC), Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA), and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center.

The Regional Development Council (RDC), the highest policy-making body in the regions, 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. It also serves as a forum where local efforts can be coordinated and integrated with national development activities. Aside from its regional planning and development endeavors, the RDC is responsible for mobilizing local government units, regional line agencies, non-government organizations, private sector, the academe, legislators and other entities to ensure that regional and local plans, as well as, programs and projects are properly implemented.

NEDA XI Regional Director Maria Lourdes D. Lim bared that the NEDA family in Davao Region, which includes the NSO XI and NSCB XI, together with RDC XI, commenced celebrations for the four decades of development planning or 40 years of Regional Development Planning Efforts in the Philippines during the annual observance of the Regional Development Planning Week in September last year. Region XI’s experience on development planning was showcased through a forum and gallery exhibit mounted at the SM Annex, Ecoland, Davao City. Director Lim said that the NEDA XI family shall gather anew for the culmination of its inter-Office sports activity which started July 27 last year, on January 25 to celebrate NEDA’s 40th year of existence as an agency. Other commemorative activities are lined-up by NEDA XI until November this year, in time for the 40th year anniversary of NEDA XI.