(Davao City, 8 June 2023). The Regional Development Council (RDC) XI, during its second quarter full council meeting on June 26, 2023, endorsed a total of thirty-one (31) priority programs, activities and projects (PAPs), amounting to a total investment target of PHP 154.67 billion. These PAPs are specifically earmarked for the upcoming Regional-National Investment Programming (RNIP) Dialogue.

In line with its commitment to ensure the alignment of regional and national priorities, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), through the RNIP Secretariat, enjoined 12 pilot national government agencies and the15 RDCs for the conduct of the first RNIP Dialogue. This dialogue, tentatively scheduled in the fourth week of July, aims to establish the linkage between the regions’ investment program and the national’s investment program by generating a harmonized list of region-specific PAPs that shall be included in the updating of the Public Investment Program (PIP) 2023-2028.

The Davao Region’s top priority list encompasses region-specific PAPs from select agency regional offices (AROs) including the (1) Department of Agriculture (DA); (2) Department of Education (DepEd); (3) Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); (4) Department of Health (DOH); (5) Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD); (6) Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT); (7) Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); (8) Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH); (9) Department of Science and Technology (DOST); (10) Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); and, (11) Department of Transportation (DOTr).

In terms of the agencies’ investment targets, the DoTr emerged with highest investment target with a total of PHP 73.29 billion allocated for three PAPs. These include the development of the Davao International Airport and Mati Airport, as well as the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project. Following closely is DPWH XI with three PAPs amounting to PHP 50.61 billion, DepEd XI with PHP 14.31 billion, and DOH XI with PHP 11.09 billion.

Moreover, the priority list also included PAPs associated with the Regional Government Center, specifically the construction of office buildings for DSWD XI, DENR XI, DILG XI, DHSUD XI and NEDA XI, with a combined investment target of PHP 844.44 billion.

The RDC XI, through its Secretariat, shall actively coordinate with the central offices of the pilot agencies in the coming weeks to effectively finalize the list of Agency Regional-National PAPs to be presented during the RNIP Dialogue in August  17-18, 2023.

-Rod Norbert D Mondoyo, NEDA XI