Cebu City Council seeks updated Philippine Development Plan

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council is urging the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)-7 to provide targeted and specific areas of the updated Philippine Development Plan (PDP).

This is for the local legislative body to prioritize and craft legislative measures to ensure achieving the goals and objectives of the “AmBisyon Natin 2040”.

Councilor Raul Alcoseba, who authored the resolution, said he seeks for information and guidance in order to facilitate in the implementation or execution of the said goal considering the challenges manifested by the pandemic.

These include on how to strike a balance between safely opening the economy and addressing the public health crisis; food resiliency and security, human capital development, and accelerating infrastructure and Information Technology (IT); equity and resilience in terms of health, education, employment, quality of education in all levels, uninterrupted family planning services, equitable health financing, utilizing artificial intelligence and big-data analytics for health data, and improving employability through up-skilling.

AmBisyon Natin 2040 is the “collective long-term visions and aspirations of the Filipino people for themselves and for the country in the next 25 years,” encouraging all sectors of society to “direct their efforts towards creating opportunities for Filipinos to enjoy a strongly rooted, comfortable and secure life”.

Its long-term process of formulation started in 2015 where more than 300 citizens participated in focus group discussions and about 10,000 responded the national survey.

The result was further deliberated with stakeholders from the regional, national and the public.

Recently, NEDA launched an updated PDP which has been adjusted to suit the demands of the new normal in the political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal aspects.

Specifically, it aimed for “a healthy and resilient Philippines” with its five major programs: health system improvement, food security, learning continuity, digital transformation and regional development.

It was derived through consultations with stakeholders from the regional, national and the public.

“The challenge now is to craft and implement measures that will allow us to strike a balance between opening the economy and addressing the public health crisis. We need to tweak the different strategies in the Updated Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 to achieve a healthy and resilient Philippines,” said Dr. Rosemarie Edillon, NEDA Undersecretary for Policy and Planning.

The Central Visayas leg of the updated PDP virtual caravan happened last May 6, 2021 via Zoom.

It was attended by 300 representatives from the academe, regional agencies, local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and private sectors. — Dianah Rule Salinguhay, CNU Comm Intern, GMR (FREEMAN)