Section 5Sec./Art. 5

Powers and Functions of the DEPDev. - The DEPDev shall have the following powers and functions:

(a) Policy and planning

(1) Provide objective, evidence-based policy advice and alternatives; propose or review policies, plans, and programs through critical analyses of development issues; and report findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, or the relevant Committee of the ED Council, as appropriate, especially to:

(i) Foster sustainable and equitable distribution of economic opportunities and benefits to Filipinos;

(ii) Support the development of agriculture, industry, and services, to achieve economic development goals, and foster innovation vital to equitable and sustainable growth;

(iii) Advance national productivity, competition, and competitiveness;

(iv) Promote transparency, accountability, participatory governance, and strengthening of national and subnational public institutions;

(v) Improve the policy and regulatory environment to reduce the cost and improve the ease of doing business; and

(vi) Ensure that master plans are coordinated, synergistic, responsive to emerging issues, and consistent with priority development strategies;

(2) Formulate a long-term vision and development framework as the basis for the overall direction of govenrment policies, programs, and projects with emphasis on sustainability;

(3) Formulate a national and regional framework for physical and spatial planning to ensure the sustainable use of land and other physical resources which support the development of agriculture, environment, and natural resources, industry, and services;

(4) Formulate national and subnational development plans that set forth measurable goals, strategies, proposed policies, programs, and projects;

(5) Ensure consistency and monitor the implementation of policies, national, subnational, sectoral, and spatial plans and programs;

(6) Together with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), ensure that the annual and multi-year appropriations for programs and projects are aligned with the long-term development framework and national and subnational development plans towards optimal use of financial resources. The DEPDev shall use available, modification, or scaling up of government programs, projects, and activities. The President may request th DEPDev for its recommendation on budget appropriations that are aligned with the long-term development framework and national and subnational development plans which may be vetoed or subject to conditional implementation;

(7) Conduct, research, surveys, and related studies to inform the formulation of policies and plans, and the design of programs and projects; and

(8) Coordinate with autonomous and administrative regions in the conduct of planning activities affecting their respective regions;

(b) Investment programming

(1) Ensure that development plans are translated into programs, activities, and projects;

(2) Formulate and review the national and regional public investment program that identifies priority programs, activities, and projects;

(3) Adopt and implement appropriate evaluation measures and criteria to determine the viability of programs and projects;

(4) Appraise programs and projects, and recommend those found to be socio-economically viable to the ED to Council; and

(5) Ensure that projects which no longer serve their purpose or are not aligned with the medium- and long-term plans are retrenched or modified;

(c) Monitoring and evaluation

(1) Formulate annual reports that monitor the implementation of national and subnational development plans including recommendations to address identified gaps and challenges;

(2) Establish and implement a centralized data system to monitor and assess the progress of implementation of priority programs and projects;

(3) Monitor and assess the implementation progress of priority programs and projects using measurable indicators and adaptable reporting frameworks suited to their specific nature;

(4) Evaluate and report the impacts and outcomes of priority programs and projects to inform policy adjustments and decision-making; and

(5) Formulate a medium-term national evaluation agenda and oversee the government's conduct of evaluation studies consistent with the agenda, ensuring alignment with national development priorities and transparency of findings; and issue planning instructions as part of the periodic planning calls so that the agencies will align their programs, activities, and projects (PAPs) with the evaluation findings;

(d) Establish and implement a capacity-building program on development policy and planning for national and regional government agencies, including administrative agencies, such as metropolitan authorities and LGUs;

(e) Establish a dedicated office within the DEPDev that shall undertake scenario planning and futures thinking exercises, anticipating future trends or discontinuities, and recommend responsive measures to the President and the Congress, as may be appropriate. As used in this Act, futures thinking refers to a set of approaches and tools designed to help their users identify emerging signals and trends, determine drivers, navigates uncertainties, identify and articulate alternative scenarios, introduce innovation, design robust policiesa dn strategies, and develop a common vision of a desired future through wide participation;

(f) Provide technical and secretariat support to the ED Council and its committees, as may be provided in this Act;

(g) Serve as Secretariat to the Regional Development Councils (RDCs) pursuant to Executive Order No. 325, series of 1996; the national Innovation Council pursuant to Republic Act No. 11293, otherwise known as the "Philippine Innovation Act"; the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council pursuant to Republic Act No. 7640, or "An Act Constituting the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council", and such other inter-agency committees, boards or councils, as may be provided by law; and

(h) Establish, manage, and maintain a repository of data, and make available such data, publications, research, analyses, and other information generated by the DEPDev in accordance with existing laws and regulations for the purpose of knowledge sharing, subject to Executive Order No. 2, series of 2016, on Freedom of Information (FOI), the NEDA FOI Guidelines and other related issuances.