National Economic and Development Authority – Cordillera (NEDA-CAR) Regional Director Milagros Rimando challenged the NEDA-CAR staff to become advocates of the Philippine Government’s development plans during the NEDA-CAR 2019 Assessment and 2020 Work-Planning held January 8 and 9, 2020.

Rimando said that NEDA-CAR staff must advocate long-term plans of the region and the nation as a whole such as the Cordillera Regional Development Plan 2017-2022, the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, and AmBisyon 2040. With inputs from the different government agencies and local government units and consolidated by NEDA, these plans give direction for action by government entities and the private sector.

As secretariat of the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) and the leading development coordination agency in the region, NEDA-CAR has a hand in the various development initiatives of the government for the Cordillera. The various divisions of NEDA-CAR presented their 2019 accomplishments and their plans and programs for 2020.

It was shared that NEDA has ramped up its evidence-based policy proposals by funding several studies. In 2019, the study on determining the Urban Carrying Capacity of Baguio City was finalized. Further, the Fiscal Viability of the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera and the Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, Tublay (BLISTT) Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Development Master Plan which both began last year, are slated to be completed in 2020. Going forward, a study on the Baguio Airport Services has just begun and is programmed to be finished by the end of the year.