Section 12Sec./Art. 12

DEPDev Regional Offices. - The DEPDev shall establish, operate, and maintain an office in each region of the country, except in Metro Manila and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Each regional office shall be headed by a Regional Director, who shall be assisted by an Assistant Regional Director. The DEPDev Regional Offices shall discharge the functions of the DEPDev, as applicable, at the regional level.

In relation to the functions specified in Section 5 of this Act, the DEPDev Regional Offices shall have the following functions:

(a) Ensure that regional and local development priorities are aligned with national plans, without prejudice to other means identified by the DEPDev Secretary to address delays in the achievement of Philippine Development Plan (PDP) goals. The Regional Development Committee (RDCom) and the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), after obtaining inputs from the RDCs, shall recommend national government (NG) and LGU cost-sharing arrangements to induce the LGUs to voluntarily commit resources for projects that will help address delays. The resulting recommendation of the RDCom and the ICC shall be vetted by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) and shall be recommended for inclusion in the President's budget message and the National Expenditure Program;

(b) Ensure that the national and regional plans and programs are coherent. For this purpose, the DEPDev Secretary and the Executive Secretary shall regularly convene regional national investment programming dialogues between RDC chairs and Cabinet Secretaries to formulate, update, and prioritize the roster of the DEPDev-DBM priority public investment projects;

(c) Oversee the integration of plans and programs of regional agencies, state universities and colleges (SUCs), special development bodies, and LGUs into the regional and national plans. The DEPDev Regional Offices shall provide assistance to regional line agencies, LGUs, SUCs, and special development bodies in identifying and developing programs and projects;

(d) Evaluate and review proposed policies, land use plans, programs and projects in the region

(e) Monitor and evaluate the implementation of plans, policies, programs, and projects;

(f) Provide technical and secretariat support to their respective RDCs;

(g) Undertake research and ensure knowledge utilization for regional development and productivity; and

(h) Provide technical assistance to development partners in the region in accordance with the DEPDev's functions.