Legal Basis

Section 9, Article XII of the Philippine Constitution provides that: “Congress may establish an independent economic and planning agency headed by the President, which shall, after consultations with the appropriate public agencies, various private sectors, and local government units, recommend to Congress, and implement continuing integrated and coordinated programs and policies for national development.”

     The same Section of the Constitution further states, “until the Congress provides otherwise, the National Economic and Development Authority shall function as the independent planning agency of the government.” Hence, under the Philippine Constitution, the NEDA serves as the independent planning agency of the government.

     The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) was reorganized, structurally and functionally in accordance with the provisions of  Executive Order No. 230 issued on July 22, 1987, (See attached Annex “A”), some salient features of  which are as follows:

1. The E.O. 230 is known as the Reorganization Act of the National Economic and Development Authority.
2. Section 3 of the E.O. provides that the National Economic and Development Authority shall be composed of two separate and distinct entities: the Board and the Secretariat;
3. It provides for the composition of the NEDA Board which the President heads and the Director-General of the NEDA Secretariat as Vice-Chairman;
4. The Board meets at least once a month or as frequently as is necessary to discharge its responsibilities as called for by the President.  In case the President is unable to attend the meeting, the Director-General of the NEDA Secretariat presides as Chairman in the absence of any Presidential preference;
5. The powers and functions of the Authority reside in the NEDA Board;
6. E.O. 230 created Inter-Agency Committees to assist the NEDA Board in the performance of its functions namely: the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC); Infrastructure Committee (InfraCom); Investment Coordination Committee (ICC); Social Development Committee (SDC) and; Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM); and
7. E.O. 230 created a Technical Staff known as the NEDA Secretariat that shall serve as the research and technical support staff of the NEDA Board.