Malacañan released three Presidential directives-one administrative and two executive orders-all signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on October 20, in order to revitalize bureaus and offices under the Executive Branch.
Administrative Order (AO) No. 8 reconstituted the composition of the NEDA Board, Executive Committee (ExCom), and the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) for a more effective and speedy approval process.
The NEDA Board, from 22 members, is now streamlined to 12 members, with the President, as Chairperson and Socio-Economic Planning Secretary, as Vice Chairperson.
The other board members are the Executive Secretary; Cabinet Secretary; Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairperson; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor; and the Secretaries of Budget and Management, Energy, Finance, Public Works and Highways, Trade and Industry, and Transportation.
Further, AO No. 8 reactivated the 6-member NEDA Board ExCom, headed by the President as Chairperson, and Socio-Economic Planning Secretary as Vice Chairperson; and restored the ICC, with the Finance and Socio-Economic Planning chiefs as Co-Chairpersons.
Parts of responsibilities of the NEDA Board ExCom are to approve development plans and programs consistent with the policies set by the President and confirm “extremely urgent” ICC-approved projects.
Meanwhile, Executive Order (EO) No. 46 reverted the post clearance audit function from the Department of Finance (DOF) Fiscal Intelligence Unit to the Bureau of Custom (BOC), in effect reviving the BOC Post Entry Audit Group and renaming it as Post Clearance Audit Group (PCAG).
“The PCAG is mandated to conduct, within three (3) years from the date of final payment of duties and taxes or customs clearance, an audit examination, inspection, verification, and investigation of records pertaining to any goods declaration,” EO No. 46 stated.
The BOC-PCAG will be headed by an Assistant Commissioner of the BOC who will have direct control and supervision of PCAG’s Trade Information and Risk Analysis Office (TIRAO) and Compliance Assessment Office (CAO).
On the other hand, the defunct DOF Fiscal Intelligence Unit was instituted and renamed as Financial Analytics and Intelligence (FAI) Unit. Among its functions include revenue-related data analysis, review of fiscal matters, and policy advisory.
Bringing consular services closer to Filipinos
Meanwhile, President Duterte, through Executive Order (EO) No. 45, reorganized the field offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Office of Consular Affairs-consisting of the Regional Consular Offices (RCOs) and Satellite Offices (SOs)-to form the DFA Consular Offices.
“In accordance to the Duterte administration’s goal of promoting a people-centered, clean, efficient, and effective governance, including seamless service delivery. There is a need to open additional consular offices in strategic places to ensure faster processing of passports and minimize inconvenience to the DFA’s clientele,” EO No. 45 said.
A total of 27 RCOs and SOs across the country renamed as DFA Consular Offices, which functions include issuance of Philippine passports and verification for consular record documents, and provision of authentication services and assistance-to-nationals (ATN) services to Filipinos.
Additional Consular Offices may be subsequently created by the DFA, subject to a set of criteria and the President’s approval, in a bid to provide consular services to the widest possible area across the country. (PCO-Content)
