President Benigno S. Aquino III leads his official family in prayer before presiding over the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board Meeting at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room of the Malacañan Palace on Thursday (November 21, 2013). In photo are Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr., Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr., Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje. (Photo by Ryan Lim / Malacañang Photo Bureau)
MANILA (Mabuhay) — President Benigno S. Aquino III presided over the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board Meeting at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room in Malacañang Palace on Thursday.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said the meeting will be divided into two parts.
In the first part, the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), headed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and NEDA Director-General Arsenio Balisacan, will discuss the development, operations and maintenance projects being done by the Department of Transportation and Communications in the country’s airport.
The ICC will also discuss the Light Rail Transit Line 1 project, also known as the Cavite extension project, which is part of the Aquino administration’s public private partnership. The government is studying the extension of the train line up to Dasmariñas, Cavite, instead of the initial plan to make Bacoor City as the final station.
The Cavite extension project is expected to serve around four million commuters of Parañaque and Cavite province. The rebidding of the P65-billion LRT 1 extension project was set last April 28.
Secretary Coloma said that in the second part of the meeting, the NEDA board will review four projects: the infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Metro Manila and Laguna Lake Shore; the irrigation projects of the National Irrigation Administration; the roadmap for transport infrastructure development in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon Region and Calabarzon Region; and the government integrated financial management information system, which enables the government to plan, execute and monitor the budget more efficiently.
The meeting started at 10:15 a.m. and is ongoing as of this writing.
The last NEDA Board meeting presided over by the President as chairman, was held last May 29. The meeting, which lasted 11 hours, approved nine projects worth P62.3 billion.
Also present at the meeting were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Francis Pangilinan, Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, Secretary Coloma, Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje, Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo and Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Head Julia Andrea Abad.
Also in attendance were Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino, Mindanao Development Authority Chairperson Luwalhati Antonino, Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines President and Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali, Jr., Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Mujiv Hataman, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Undersecretary Celia Alba, Tourism Assistant Secretary Rolando Canizal, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Managing Director Wilhelmina Mañalac, Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson, and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Assistant Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Sabater Caguioa. (MNS)
