Marcos approves Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028

• President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has signed an executive order approving the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028

• The plan includes, among others, various strategies to achieve a seamless and inclusive connectivity via local and international linkages

• EO 14, signed on January 27, directs all national government agencies, offices, and institutions; and local government units to adopt, disseminate, and implement the PDP 2023-2028

• Chapter 12 (Expand and Upgrade Infrastructure), in particular, is geared toward the delivery of sustainable, resilient, integrated, and modern infrastructure systems

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has approved the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, which includes, among others, various strategies to achieve a seamless and inclusive connectivity via local and international linkages.

Marcos signed Executive Order No. 14 on January 27 to set in motion his ambitious economic recovery program to return the country onto “a high-growth trajectory” towards an upper-middle-income nation by 2025.

His goal is to enable economic and social change that is anchored on AmBisyon Natin 2040, a 25-year plan that envisions a prosperous, high-trust, and middle-class Philippine society where the people are healthy and educated, among other goals.

The PDP is the country’s blueprint for socioeconomic development over the medium term crafted at the beginning of each new administration.

The five-year roadmap also contains strategies and policies to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; Marcos’ eight-point socioeconomic agenda to reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction while tackling the residual impact of the pandemic; and the 2022-2028 medium-term fiscal framework.

In a forum on the PDP in Pasay on Monday, the President said the roadmap aims to “reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction by steering the economy back on the high-growth path and effect economic transformation.”

“It is a plan that will set the Philippines towards becoming an upper-middle-income country by the year 2025,” Marcos said.

“These are truly bold plans, but I have the confidence in the minds of those who will become our partners in realizing this vision contained in this document and faith in the capacity of our people,” he added.

The government’s performance would be gauged by how it dealt with the issues of ordinary Filipinos and “what we have done to unburden the life of the ordinary Filipino,” Marcos said. He said the struggles of Filipinos run deeper than the bigger and macro problems that the government encounters.

Marcos said the regional development councils, the highest policy-making body governing each of the 17 regions in the Philippines, now play a more significant role under the PDP.

“Their role in all of the economic planning of NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) and the country’s economy in general is going to be expanded and that will give voice to the local governments… to point out to the national government the needs in their areas,” the President said.

Marcos stressed the need for the government to strengthen its ties with the private sector, as the success of the economic roadmap “lies in all of us working together.”

The PDP 2023-2028 was approved by the NEDA Board last December 16 after a series of Cabinet-level and technical inter-agency discussions and stakeholder consultations.

In accordance with EO 14, all concerned government agencies must align their budgetary and departmental/corporate programs with the strategies and activities identified in the PDP 2023-2028.

The Department of Budget and Management will provide necessary budget support for the implementation, monitoring, assessment, and updating of the PDP 2023-2028 and Public Investment Program (PIP) 2023-2028.

The PIP will contain the priority programs and projects (PAPs) to be carried out by agencies from 2023 to 2028. All concerned government agencies are directed to identify PAPs in accordance with the October 7, 2022 PIP Formulation Guidelines issued by the NEDA.

The formulation of the PIP 2023-2028 should be completed by the first quarter of 2023 and updated annually or when deemed necessary by the NEDA.

The PDP is composed of 16 chapters covering the social and production sectors, as well as institutions and the environment as the elements of an enabling landscape. The plan lays out the corresponding strategies including policies, programs, and legislative priorities that are needed to achieve identified socioeconomic targets.

Chapter 12 (Expand and Upgrade Infrastructure), in particular, is geared toward the delivery of sustainable, resilient, integrated, and modern infrastructure systems. It comprises crosscutting strategies and specific strategies corresponding to each of the infrastructure subsectors: connectivity (physical and digital), water resources, energy, and social infrastructure.

Under connectivity, the plan aims to “move people, goods and information through modernized and expanded transport and digital infrastructure, with active participation of the private sector.”

Part of the 14 strategies under connectivity are the following:

• Formulation and adoption of a National Transportation Master Plan
• Intermodal transport facilities will be constructed and upgraded to achieve seamless connectivity
• Active transport networks will be developed
• Applicable mass transportation systems will be developed in metropolitan areas
• Reforms in the provision of public transport services will be strengthened
• Improvement of the nautical highway by constructing and expanding seaports to support economic sectors such as agriculture and trade
• Improvement of existing airports and the development of new ones to address future demand
• Development and expansion of cargo and freight rail infrastructure to connect to strategic infrastructure such as ports
• Cold chain logistics and management facilities will be developed
• The implementation of the Unified Logistics Pass and Transport Accreditation, Permit and Pass for Ports will be made seamless and well-integrated
• Transport safety and security will be ensured
• Digital infrastructure will be modernized and expanded

As part of the legislative agenda for connectivity, proposed policies include the enactment of a National Transport Policy Act and Magna Carta for Commuters; rationalizing the mandates of transport agencies; and creating an independent body for transport safety and security, among others.

The target results under Chapter 12 include, among others, increasing public infrastructure spending from 5.9% of the gross domestic products (GDP) in the first to third quarters of 2022 to 6% in 2028; increasing the number of passengers transported via air and sea from 35.72 million in 2021 to 202.34 million in 2028; increasing cargo transported via air and sea from 470.30 million metric tons (MT) in 2021 to 1.850 billion MT in 2028; and decreasing road travel time in key corridors from 3.285 hours in 2019 to 3.207 hours in 2028.

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