President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has signed the executive order approving and adopting the Philippine Development Plan that is to be implemented within the next five years until the end of his term, Malacañang announced on Monday.

Signed on 27 January, Executive Order 14 adopted PDP, which sets the country’s roadmap toward economic recovery and towards becoming an upper-middle income country by the year 2025.

On the same day, the President presented the PDP at a forum in Pasay City, expressing high hopes for the newly-crafted development plan.

“These are truly bold plans, but I have the confidence in the brilliant minds who will become our partners in realizing the vision contained in this document and faith in the capacity of our people,” Marcos said in his remarks during the forum.

“Indeed, we look towards the future with hope, with optimism. But our gaze can only go as far as what we have done to unburden the life of the ordinary Filipino,” the President continued,

Social program

He pointed out that the plan also addresses social development and protection, disaster resilience, and digital transformation.

“Moreover, we will continue to strengthen the cooperation between local and national governments as well as further boost the partnership between government and the private sector,” he said.

Marcos believes that the Philippine economy can grow at least 7 percent this year.

The Presidential Communications Office explained that PDP is the second medium-term plan anchored on “AmBisyon Natin 2040,” which aims to “bring back the country to a high-growth trajectory and more importantly, enable economic and social transformation for a prosperous, inclusive and resilient society.”

AmBisyon Natin 2040 serves as a guide for development planning from 2016 to 2040 to enable Filipinos to attain a “matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay” or “stable, comfortable, and secured life.”

The development blueprint is likewise anchored on the Marcos administration’s 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda, which aims to “reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction while addressing the issues brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The PDP 2023-2028 was earlier approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board on 16 December 2022, following a series of Cabinet-level and technical inter-agency discussions and stakeholder consultations.

Under the latest EO, the national government agencies, government-owned or -controlled corporations, government financial institutions, other national government offices and instrumentalities, government corporate entities, state universities and colleges, and local government units are directed to adopt and disseminate the development plan.

Moreover, they are directed to align their budgetary and department or corporate programs with the strategies and activities identified in the roadmap.

The EO dictates that the plan must be updated annually or when deemed necessary by the NEDA.

Meanwhile, for NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan the creation of PDP “is a manifestation of the Marcos administration’s commitment to a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach for achieving long-term inclusive development.”

“In these next six years, we can look forward to seeing the government take swift and decisive action, with various agencies working in synergy towards our shared goal of significantly improving the quality of life of the Filipino people and working towards a prosperous, inclusive, and resilient society,” he said in his speech at the forum.