DAVAO CITY — Senators on Monday unanimously approved on third reading House Bill 8930 which mandates the creation of the Metropolitan Davao Development Authority or MDDA, it is the brainchild of Davao City Third District Representative and House Deputy Speaker Isidro Ungab.
Ungab thanked the Senate’s approval of House Bill No. 8930, establishing the Metropolitan Davao Development Authority (MDDA).
With its approval, Ungab said, it will change the socio-economic landscape, growth and development of the Davao Region.
The author of HB 8930 and sponsor at the Lower House, said MDDA will comprise six (6) cities and nine (9) municipalities in the Davao Region and shall be known as Metropolitan Davao, is in response to the fast growth and peculiar urbanization of the Davao Region.
The Metropolitan Davao Development Council shall serve as the governing board and policy-making body. It will be composed of the chairperson of the Davao Region, and governors and mayors of the respective provinces and cities.
The council chairperson, who will render a term of three years, shall be appointed by the sitting president.
Metropolitan Davao will include Davao City; the cities of Panabo, Tagum and Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte; Digos City in Davao del Sur; Mati City in Davao Oriental; and the municipalities of Sta. Cruz, Hagonoy, Padada, Malalag, and Sulop in Davao del Sur, Carmen in Davao del Norte, Maco in Davao de Oro, and Malita and Sta Maria in Davao Occidental.
The establishment of the MDDA is one of the initiatives of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, being the head of the Metropolitan Davao Development Coordinating Committee (MDDCC), a special committee under the Regional Development Council -Davao Region.
“The creation of MDDA will assure stronger coordination among Metro Davao’s component cities and municipalities in the planning, implementation and monitoring of priority programs and projects,” Ungab added. As he expressed confidence the MDDA creation will synchronize and unify the development of Davao Region and the needs will now be addressed.
Ungab also expressed his profound thanks to Senate Committee on Local Government Chairman Francis Tolentino who spearheaded the passage of the bill at the Upper House. Ungab noted that the experience of Senator Tolentino as former chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority greatly contributed to the polishing and fine-tuning of the MDDA Bill.
Tolentino, who sponsored the bill, said the agency will help “institutionalize the rapid urbanization of Davao through strategic and viable reforms, primarily towards regional cooperation and economic growth.”
“By agglomerating major cities and municipalities of the region, [the] MDDA will further liberalize local government units within its jurisdiction… and promote a sustained and all-inclusive decentralization,” Tolentino, who leads the Committee on Local Government, said.
Ungab thanked the co-authors of the MDDA bill in the Senate, namely, Senators Bato dela Rosa, Imee Marcos, Bong Go and Majority Floor Leader Migs Zubiri.
