IN FAIRNESS to the Regional Development Councils (RDCs), I would rather say that they are not doing enough to publicize what they are doing, instead of saying that they are not doing anything, or they are not doing enough in order to fulfill the mandates that were given to them.
Perhaps one reason for this lack of information is because of the fact that their accomplishments are mostly local in nature, and would seldom get the attention of the national press.
In theory, the Barangay Development Councils (BDCs) should report to the Municipal Development Councils (MDCs), the MDCs should report to the Provincial Development Councils (PDCs), and ultimately, the PDCs should report to the Regional Development Councils (RDCs).
And that should not stop there, because again in theory, the RDCs are supposed to report to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
Also in theory, the NEDA is supposed to report to the Office of the President (OP).
Since these are all in theory, it would seem that the actual reality is very far from the theory.
Although the law requires all Local Development Councils (LDCs) to meet regularly, it seems that many of them do not. What is sad is some of them would even fabricate their minutes of the meeting to make it appear that they actually held meetings, even if they did not.
As a result, since the minutes are fake, then the so-called accomplishments would also be be fake, thus making the people the ultimate victims.
Although I am disappointed with the lack of performance among the RDCs, I am still hoping that they could be made more productive, especially so now that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has called upon them to play a greater role in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP).
For that to happen however, the government has to come up with a more transparent way of monitoring and reporting the actual agenda and minutes of all the RDC meetings, to weed out fake reporting./PN
