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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
HOUSE SPEAKER PROSPERO NOGRALES asked 57
Mindanao and Palawan lawmakers to consolidate all their district
development projects into an integrated Mindanao development program
to boost the country’s food security in response to the peace and
order problem.
Nograles said that there’s a need for a
unified effort to win enough funding support for the region’s
development programs to be incorporated in the 2009 General
Appropriations Act, which the Arroyo government is now formulating
and finalizing for presentation to Congress after the scheduled
state of the Nation address (SONA) of the President in July.
He also asked the Mindanao solons to help in
solving the kidnapping case of ABS-CBN broadcaster Ces Drilon and
her staff.
The House Chief made the statement after the
Mindanao solons headed by Nograles (Rep. of Davao City) were being
briefed on the current status and prospects of development in the
South by Undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana, chairperson of the
Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo).
MEDCo is the government’s agency created for
the development of Mindanao under Executive Order (EO) 512 issued
March 19, 1992 and amended by EO 244 on May 15, 2000, to include
Palawan and mandated MEDCo as the Philippine Coordinating Office for
the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean
Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
The MEDCo jurisdiction covers 27 provinces, 32
cities, 417 municipalities and 10,063 barangays in Mindanao and
Palawan.
The House Speaker ordered Rep. Thelma Z. Almario
of Davao Oriental to receive and consolidate all district
development programs of the 57 Mindanao lawmakers for incorporation
into the MEDCo development blueprint.
”There is a need for a review or reorientation
of our medium and long-term development programs. There is also a
need to reform policies on land use and land conversion,” Nograles
said.
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