President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reorganized the groups assisting the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev) in crafting economic policies.
Under Administrative Order 37, Marcos has given Special Assistant to the President on Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go a larger role in the committees assisting DEPDev by designating him a member of the Economic Development (ED) Council.
Among Go’s new responsibilities are representing the Office of the President and the Executive Secretary in the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), Infrastructure Committee (InfraCom), and Social Development Committee (SDC).
Go will also sit as chairperson of the EDCom, while the secretaries of DEPDev and the Department of Finance (DoF) will be the vice chairpersons.
Other positions
In the DBCC, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) secretary, who solely held the position, will share the role with the Finance secretary as co-chairperson.
In the SDC, additional members from the government were named by Marcos, including the secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform, the director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission.
For the Tariff and Related Matters Committee, the secretaries of DAR and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources were made members.
With the transformation of the National Economic and Development Authority into the full-fledged department now known as DEPDev, its functions and committees were reorganized.
The order was deemed retroactive, with its effectivity dated from 27 April 2025.