Oversight Function of the PMS Over Strategic and/or Complex Projects

June 24, 2006

MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 220

DIRECTING THE PRESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT STAFF TO HELP OVERSEE STRATEGIC AND/OR COMPLEX PROJECTS

WHEREAS, the "oversight" principle has been used in numerous cases, such as Terminal 3 which is being attended to by an ad-hoc Palace team;

WHEREAS, the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), per Cabinet instructions on May 30, 2006, was given such functions for farm-to-market roads and irrigation projects;

WHEREAS, other projects in diverse sectors may benefit from oversight;

WHEREAS, the "Agno River Basin" is a basic example of a strategic, high-impact project that could benefit from oversight;

WHEREAS, the "North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle" and its related projects is an example of a highly complex set that collectively develop agribusiness lands in accordance with the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan and Term Public Investment Program goals;

WHEREAS, the "Non-Intrusive Container Inspection System" is an example of a key project with post-9/11 security implications that was long delayed in the cross-agency mill, and whose next phase should not suffer the same delays;

WHEREAS, the "ICT for Education/Distance Learning" project, which is being developed consistent with the last Council of State meeting private sector initiative to connect our 42,000 barangays through telecommunications, is an example of a project that may finally achieve what a number of predecessor concepts and proposals aspired for — for example, beyond the distance learning function, to provide the government a national digital network giving it real-time access to all the barangays, for disaster coordination, simple rural telephony, national security monitoring, etc.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA M. ARROYO, President of the Philippines, by the power vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. The Director-General of the PMS is hereby directed to help oversee strategic and/or complex projects that (1) cut across agencies and therefore suffer delays or set-backs traced to inter-agency red tape, or (2) cover wide geographic areas and therefore are inherently more difficult to monitor, such as, but not limited to the following:

a. Farm-to-market roads and irrigation projects

b. The Agno River Basin

c. The North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle

d. The Non-Intrusive Container Inspection System

e. The ICT for Education/Distance Learning project.

SECTION 2. This Memorandum Order shall take effect immediately.

Manila, June 24, 2006