Leaders from government and academia convened on 11 March 2025 at the PICC Secretariat Building for the Interagency Summit on Enhancing Harmony and Integration in Philippine Sectoral Development Planning. The event served as a venue to address fragmented planning processes and discuss a unified action agenda for the country’s future. Opening messages were delivered by representatives from the University of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and the Department of Science and Technology, reflecting the collaborative role of government, academia, and the scientific community in responding to complex development challenges..

The program featured expressions of position from representatives of national government agencies and partner institutions involved in planning, environment, climate, health, agriculture, infrastructure, statistics, space, local governance, and administrative reform. These discussions highlighted proposed reforms and interagency perspectives on strengthening coordination across sectors.

IESM faculty members Dr. Benjamin M. Vallejo Jr. and Dr. Enrico L. Replan contributed to the summit through the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS). Dr. Replan was among the UP CIDS experts who provided technical perspectives during the discussions, while Dr. Vallejo delivered the synthesis and discussed the ways forward at the close of the summit. They were joined by Dr. Julius Rhoan T. Lustro and Dr. Rosalie Arcala Hall, who also provided technical inputs in support of a more coherent and integrated approach to Philippine development planning.

For more on the summit, read the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies article, Strengthening the Core: Highlights from the Interagency Summit on Philippine Sectoral Planning.