Davao City – The Regional Development Council in Davao Region has updated its Davao Regional Development Plan with an optimism of pursuing a sustainable and inclusive economic growth while addressing the impact of the health pandemic in the next few years.
RDC-XI Vice-Chair and Regional Director Maria Lourdes Lim of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-XI) said that the DRDP 2017-2022 midterm update set the direction of the region towards 2022 and towards adapting to the new normal.
In the DRDP virtual launch on Wednesday via NEDA-XI and PIA Davao Region Facebook pages and PTV Davao live streaming, Lim presented the highlights of the updated plan, and including the COVID-19 recovery program for the region.
“Davao Region has taken bold steps to prepare and overcome the huge challenges of COVID-19, while keeping faith and keeping true to our shared vision, our common goals, and our commitments to realizing sustainable and inclusive development for all Davaoeños,” she stated.
In an audio video presentation, the updated DRDP intends to pursue the continuous buildup of connectivity infrastructure and institutions, working on the industry clusters’ innovations to increase productivity, and improving human capital by equipping the same with lifelong skills.
The COVID-19 recovery plan, meanwhile, employs a phased and adaptive recovery approach to mitigate losses and recover from the pandemic’s economic impact for the next two and a half years.
The recovery stage which commences in June up to December this year, includes realignment of expenditure priorities for the 2020 budget toward more urgent needs such as for health interventions.
For the social sector, the region is expected to improve its health care facilities, epidemiological and surveillance capacities, as well as the status and supply of human resources for health.
The aim to improve the social protection programs, income support systems and provision of relief assistance to the most vulnerable sectors shall also be pursued.
In the education aspect, the region will adopt the blended learning delivery systems utilizing the digital and alternative learning modes. Hence, the provision of infrastructure support for ICT shall be taken up to ensure connectivity in all areas.
For the economic sector, Davao Region continues to ensure unhampered movement of agriculture and fishery goods and services through efficient transport and logistics systems; and strictly enforce food safety laws, regulations, standards and sanitation protocols for food and agricultural products supplied in the market.
Under the recovery plan, the Region will allow the reopening of more industries, provided that health protocols for the tourism industry should be adopted and tourism stakeholders should be equipped with appropriate tools and knowledge to adopt to the new normal.
The plan also sees the need to hasten the growth of e-commerce by focusing on speed, security and structure to increase sales to improve the industry sector which according to RDC-XI has been most challenged, particularly those in the manufacturing and the micro, small, and medium enterprises.
Lim said that three other plan documents will bolster the updated DRDP and the Davao Regional COVID-19 Recovery Program, such as the Regional Development Investment Program, Result Matrices and the Davao Regional Development Research Agenda.
Apart from Lim, RDC-XI Chair and Davao de Oro Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy, Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) and Department of Budget and Management Secretary Wendel Avisado and NEDA Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla also joined the DRDP virtual launch on August 26, 2020. (PIA-XI/Carina L. Cayon)