PAGADIAN CITY, Oct. 26 (PIA) –- National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Cayetano Paderanga, Jr., in a press conference on Tuesday (Oct. 25) held at the Bay Plaza Hotel, this city revealed that the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) is the road map for the country’s economic growth and development for our children’s future.
Secretary Paderanga said he and his colleagues from the NEDA Central Office came to the city to share the government’s plan for the next six years, and at the same time learn from you on how the government can implement strategies more responsive for the development of the region.
He said, the PDP for 2011-2016, aims for an inclusive growth, a growth that is shared by all and leaves no one behind This is opposed to the trickle-down, jobless growth that we experienced in the past. As what we have noticed that even though the growth rate was rising, the number of poverty incidence remain constant as reflected in the poverty index.
Infact he further disclosed, from 2006-2009 poverty incidence was lessen a little bit. When we look into it, we found out that it is because of the character of the growth that we have which requires that we expect people to participate in the growth rate to have a certain level of endowment or capital. And some sector in the Philippines will be unable to participate in this growth, Paderanga said.
This Plan is anchored on the President’s “Social Contract with the Filipino People” and was officially approved by the Cabinet-level NEDA Board, which is chaired by President Benigno S. Aquino III, on March 28, 2011.
He said, the PDP 2011-2016 is the product of several months of consultation from the various stakeholders that included not only government agencies but also the academe, civil society and private sector.
In Region IX, a regional stakeholders’ consultation was held in Zamboanga City last January and now in Pagadian City to present the final Plan that incorporates the recommendations that were raised during the said event. NEDA acts as the secretariat and is the keeper of the Plan, which was written by the regional and national stakeholders themselves, Sec. Paderanga continued.
He said, we keep on insisting that this is not our plan, and part of the reason is simply because, we want to tell all the stakeholders that they have committed to his plan. And that NEDA is the Secretariat, we will therefore monitor the implementation of this plan and tell the different stakeholders where we are sleeping as we go along.
Moreover, Secretary Paderanga said, we in NEDA to include the Pubic-Private Partnership (PPP) consider the community media as a major player in the country’s development process. As the government implements the PPP in the succeeding years we pound on you to monitor and report, not just the pressing issues but also the progress including the successes of the plan’s implementation. With this we can encourage people and to tell them that our efforts are making a difference that we are able to put this country forward, the NEDA chief exhorted.