Tacloban: The Regional Development Council in Eastern Visayas (RDC-8) has adopted the 2025 Eastern Visayas Regional Development Report (RDR), a key document that will guide planning, budgeting, and investment programming in the region.
According to Philippines News Agency, Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) Eastern Visayas Regional Director Meylene Rosales, who is also the RDC vice chairperson, stated in an interview that the 2025 RDR is the third annual assessment of the implementation of the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Plan (RDP) 2023-2028. Rosales explained that the report evaluates the region's progress toward its development targets, highlights key accomplishments and implementation issues, recommends strategies to address unmet outcomes, and monitors compliance with presidential directives and the implementation of infrastructure flagship projects.
Rosales further elaborated, 'Before its adoption, the report underwent review by the council's sectoral committees, which endorsed chapters covering the region's economic, social, environmental, infrastructure, and governance priorities.' Following the presentation, the full council unanimously approved the report. The RDC has yet to release a copy of the report.
RDC mentioned that the 2025 RDR will serve as a reference in updating the Regional Development Investment Program, guiding the council's budget review process, and supporting policy decisions aimed at achieving the goals of the RDP. Under the 2023-2028 RDP, Eastern Visayas aims to elevate economic growth by at least 7.5 percent, decrease joblessness to 5 percent, reduce poverty incidence to 16.7 percent of the population, and keep food and headline inflation rates stable between 2 percent and 4 percent.
The RDP will focus on intensifying the competitiveness of the services, enhancing the sector's productive and innovative capacity, and promoting the creative and gig economy, with a focus on upgrading the services workforce and advancing the services sector. Eastern Visayas, located in the mid-eastern part of the Philippines, connects the north and south of the country. The region comprises six provinces: Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, and Southern Leyte.
