A month after the Cagayan Valley Consultation on the mid-term updating of the Philippine Development Plan, the National Economic and Development Authority Region 2 conducted a consultation-workshop for its own Regional Development Plan 2017-2022 Midterm Update and revalidation of the results matrices on August 22, 2019 at the NEDA RO2, Tuguegrao City. The activity was participated in by planning officers and technical staff of regional line agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations and local government units.

The activity aimed to validate the region’s performance for the past two years and revisit the strategies, outcome performance indicators and annual targets towards the achievement of the region’s midterm goals.

NEDA Regional Director Dionisio C. Ledres, Jr., in his welcome remarks, stressed the importance of the midterm update to assess and address gaps, constraints and review the suitability of the Plan strategies given the progress and turn-out of events during the first half of the Plan period. “No one can plan for the region better than its own people. Let’s us plan well for our children and our children’s children so that they need not seek greener opportunities outside the region,” said Director Ledres. With these statements, he encouraged everyone to actively participate during the breakout discussions.

NEDA Assistant Regional Director Ferdinand P. Tumaliuan presented the salient features of the draft Updated Cagayan Valley Regional Development Plan (CVRDP) 2017-2022. He shared the region’s overall performance for the last two years with details on the key performance indicators as well as the development directions of the region.

Ms. Gina V. Dayag of NEDA R02 gave an overview of the relevant global and regional trends and prospects by 2022 and beyond that will likely impact the region during the second half of the plan period and beyond, which will necessitate the rethinking and identification of development strategies and interventions. These trends and prospects were along political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental trends.

The workshop mechanics was discussed by Ms. Rizza T. Andres of NEDA R02. She emphasized the need to validate the initial assessment on the CVRDP’s implementation vis-a-vis the attainment of targets for 2017-2018, validate and be able to generate inputs on regional challenges and strategies, and the core and non-core indicators with the corresponding targets for 2020-2022.

The participants were divided into four breakout groups based on their respective sectors. The workshop was facilitated by the staff of the NEDA RO2-Policy Formulation and Planning Division.
At the end of the activity, each group was able to enrich/confirm the draft plan components prepared by the Secretariat. The participants were also provided with templates which will be used in the submission of additional inputs, namely: (1) challenges, strategies, priority PAPs, and (2) targets for core and non-core indicators from 2020 to 2022. As agreed, the Secretariat will work closely with the members until the completion of the Plan.# Maricel Z. Cabalza/NEDA2-PFPD