DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 August) – Stakeholders from the social sector in the country will meet here on August 17 to 18 to craft the 10-point social development agenda of the Duterte administration.
In an interview Monday, Peter Laviña, member of the organizing committee of the Social Development Initiatives Summit, said that this is a spin-off of the “Sulong Pilipinas” organized by the economic team of President Rodrigo R. Duterte last June 20 to 21 where they fleshed out the new administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda.
He said around 300 participants from government agencies, nongovernment organizations, and social development experts will attend the two-day summit.
They will tackle the government’s anti-poverty program that will address the most vulnerable sectors like farmers, Lumad and internally displaced people, and develop the 20 least developed provinces in the country.
Among the cabinet heads expected to attend the summit are Cabinet secretary Leoncio Evasco, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, Education Secretary Leonor Briones, Labor secretary Silvestre Bello, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, and Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol.
Laviña said different government agencies will give updates, statuses of the programs, and plans on the first day and the workshop and presentation of the recommendations to Duterte on the second day.
A series of sectoral meetings on housing, education, health, livelihood, employment, and resiliency and climate change adaptation will be held in the next two months after the summit.
In a statement, the Department of Finance said the Duterte administration will “replicate the successful Sulong Pilipinas consultative conference to further broaden multisectoral support for its 10-point socioeconomic agenda designed to sustain the economy’s high growth and deliver its tangible benefits to all Filipinos.”
“Sulong Pilipinas,” which gathered 300 businessmen from all over the country, generated inputs and establish cohesive partnerships with concerned stakeholders in fleshing out President Duterte’s agenda of inclusive growth, the statement said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)