Vice President Leni Robredo (davaotoday.com file photo)
DAVAO CITY – Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo is expected to attend the two-day social and economic development summit, which will start Wednesday, August 17 at the SMX Lanang Convention Center here.
Deputy Cabinet Secretary Peter Laviña told Davao Today that Robredo will be presenting the report of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council as one of the social development agencies in the summit.
He said Robredo will be joining the summit on the first day only where various government agencies will give updates on their status and plans. This will be followed by workshops to get the feedback of all the sectors.
The housing update is part of the five main themes that will be discussed during the summit. The other themes are health, education, livelihood and environment and climate change adaptation.
Laviña said the other agencies that will be present are the Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Meanwhile, Laviña said the President might not be able to join the summit where he is supposed to receive the output of the workshops.
“We were informed this morning that due to pressing concerns in Manila, the President might not be able to join. We are awaiting for the confirmation of (Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea) who is tasked to receive the results of the workshops in the next two days,” he told reporters during a press briefing on Tuesday, August 16.
“What is important is we will come out with a set of priorities on how to push social development,” he said.
He said the country’s poverty incident remains very high.
“We are hopeful that the social and economic will address the most vulnerable and the poorest among our people,” he said.
But Laviña said with a limited budget, using only the “leftover fund” from the transition team, only an estimate of 300 delegates from all over the country are expected to be present.
“Hopefully in the succeeding sectoral summits, we will be able to involve more people,” he said.
He said the social and economic development summit hopes to come out with a social development agenda for the Duterte administration.
“After the summit, sectoral summits will be held for particular socio-development sectors,” Laviña said. He said this will be part of the social and economic development plan for five years (2017 to 2022).
Laviña said all Cabinet secretaries are invited to join the summit. He said civil society groups, non-government organizations, donor agencies, including the World Bank will be present.
He said the summit is the fulfillment of the promise of the transition team of President Rodrigo Duterte “that we will hold two important consultations: economic and social development.”
The economic summit was held at the SMX Convention Center in June this year.(davaotoday.com)
