IEmagineering Webinar Series 1: PH Recovery Roadmap

What we need to know / What we can do

The UPIEAA held a webinar last March 27, 2021 entitled “The Ph Recovery Roadmap: What we need to know / What we can do”, with guest speaker NEDA Undersecretary for National Development Policy & Planning, Ms. Rosemarie Edillon. 

NEDA Undersecretary Rose Edillon laid the discussion framework along the NEDA mission to formulate continuing, coordinated and fully integrated socio-economic policies, plans and programs to empower every Filipino to enjoy matatag, maginhawa and panatag na buhay. 

1. From 2016 – 2020, national economic outcomes were on track. In particular, poverty incidence reduction indicator was almost achieved for 2018 while unemployment rate reduction target was achieved for 2019, and had the highest credit rating at the start of 2020.

2. Then Covid-19 happened, and on the basis of the COVID model, crowd and mobility restrictions and isolation protocols and health surveillance in terms of testing and tracing were planned for. Recharge PH plan was put in place. An Inter Agency Task Force headed by HOH Secretary Duque to whom reports 3 clusters – Response, Vaccine and Recovery. Easing of restrictions resulted in economic recovery, and according to NEDA, there is no evidence that this resulted in the current surge in cases.   

3. Measures had been put in place. In terms of vaccinations, the plan is to have 63% of the 110 million eligible for vaccination to be vaccinated by the end of 2021, continuing on to completing vaccination for the projected population of 114 million by 2023.

Programs to increase government spending is key to stimulating the economy. Programs need to be implemented that will help the economy deal with disruptions. While programs have been put in place to handle disasters, planning was not equipped to handle a pandemic. Expansion of business towards health systems improvement, digital transformation, food resiliency, and safe mobility options are part of Recharge PH. Economy is targeted to recover in Q3 of 2022.

Most of the questions posed by the audience dealt with the lack of implementation of plans that look good on paper. As reported by World Bank, the Philippines trails the others in the region because of various missteps. One area pointed out was the contact tracing which is relatively ineffective. Ms. Edillon answered that the health care system does not only consist of doctors and nurses, but also epidemiologists, data scientists, which the Philippines lacks, and that the Philippines is lagging in technology, specifically in its adoption of the 4G revolution.

UPIEAA Webinar

Speaker Profile:

Rosemarie Edillon is presently the Undersecretary for National Development Policy and Planning at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). 

Ms Edillon holds a PhD in Economics from La Trobe University in Australia, an MA degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics and an MS degree in Statistics from the UP School of Statistics. She is also a 2019 Presidential Gawad CES Awardee.  

Among her major responsibilities is shepherding the formulation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP). The PDP is an elaboration of the country’s priorities over the medium-term and is the blueprint of government policies, programs and projects. She also oversees the monitoring of the PDP implementation. In addition, she is in charge of providing technical advice on policy issues to both the legislative and executive branches of government, especially the committees of the NEDA Board. 

Presently, Ms. Edillon chairs the Recovery Cluster under the National Task Force against COVID19; she also chairs the Technical Working Group on Anticipatory and Forward Planning and a member of the sub-TWG on Data Analytics under the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Ms. Edillon also chairs the Social Development Committee-Technical Board and the Technical Committee on Tariff Related Matters and is a member of the Development Budget Corrdination Committee of the NEDA Board.  She also heads the Secretariat of the Economic Development Cluster of the Cabinet.

Undersecretary Edillon is currently a member of the Board of the Philippine Economic Society, where she used to be President. She is also a member of the Philippine Commission of the UNESCO.  She was formerly the Chair of the Macroeconomics Committee of the UNESCAP and the Vice-Chair of the Economic Committee of the APEC.