8 non-voting gov’t agencies included in Cordillera RDC

By Dexter A. See

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Cordillera Regional Development Council approved a resolution confirming eight special non-voting members in the region’s policy-making body for 2016-2019 during its fourth quarter meeting held in the conference room of the Benguet AgriPinoy Traappoding Center here recently.

The resolution stated the RDC-CAR recognizes the critical roles that the confirmed non-voting special members play in the region’s policy-making body, thus, the need for their participation in the succeeding meetings of the body.

Earlier, the RDC-CAR executive committee reviewed and endorsed list of government organizations which passed the assessment.

The eight government agencies that were confirmed as special non-voting members of the RDC-CAR were the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Philippine National Police (PNP), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

Pursuant to provisions of Executive Order (EO) No. 325, the RDC-CAR may designate special nonvoting members in the council subject to the concurrence of the majority of its regular members.

Under the resolution, it is the State’s policy to have extensive and active public participation and support of government and the private sector at all levels and to operationalize this, the RDC-CAR deems it necessary to have special non-voting members in the region’s policymaking body from among government agencies and private sector organizations whose mandated roles are very critical, but are not yet being served by existing RDC members.

Section 2 of Executive Order No. 30 which created the RDC-Cordillera Administrative Region states the council shall be composed of regular and special members with the designation of special non-voting members subject to  concurrence of majority of all its members.

Milagros Rimando, regional director of the National Economic Development Authority in the Cordillera and RDC-CAR vice chairperson, said the nominees of the different sectors were subjected to assessment using an assessment tool patterned after the requirements pursuant to RDC-CAR Resolution No. 37, series of 2013.

On the other hand, Rimando said the RDC-CAR is considering nomination of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry–Cordillera as a special non-voting member representing the private sector because the chamber of commerce has a wide array of network related to the region’s economy vis-à-vis the national scene and even the international economic indicators.

The confirmed special non-voting members are expected to attend meetings of the RDC-CAR to help in analyzing and assessing programs of  government being implemented in the different parts of the region the coming years.