National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the reorganization of of his office into the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDEV) will enable the institution to fulfill its expanded mandate more effectively as it helps shape and shepherd the nation’s social and economic development.
“Proper planning can only go so far if it is not seamlessly linked with other equally essential steps in the cycle. These steps include budgeting, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, which feed back into the planning exercise. NEDA performs a catalytic role in each step. The reorganization of NEDA into the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development or DEPDEV would strengthen NEDA’s mandate and give the agency equal footing with other Executive departments, thereby reinforcing such linkages,” Balisacan said during the hearing of a pending House of Representatives bill proposing the reorganization of NEDA – Economy, Planning, and Development Bill.
Balisacan emphasized the need to elevate the agency’s status in pursuit of “enhanced policy coherence
across the bureaucracy towards achieving the country’s socioeconomic goals.”
“The bill will strengthen and streamline the powers and functions of the economic and planning agency to implement continuing and coordinated policies for national development and ensure that master plans are coordinated, synergistic, and responsive to emerging issues, as well as consistent with the country’s development priorities, strategies, and long-term vision,” he said.
“The reorganization will help ensure that well-crafted plans do not remain just that and that the policies and projects that the government approves are adequately monitored to check on their progress and rigorously evaluated to examine their effectiveness in realizing intended outcomes,” Balisacan said.
