A DAVAO City House representative who authored the bill creating the Metropolitan Davao Development Authority (MDDA) lauded the Senate’s approval of House Bill (HB) 8930, establishing MDDA on third and final reading.
With 23 affirmative votes, no negative votes, and no abstentions, the upper chamber passed House Bill 8930, which seeks to create the MDDA.
In a text message to SunStar Davao, House Deputy Speaker and Davao City Third District Representative Isidro Ungab expressed his gratitude to the Senate for passing the bill that aims to change the socio-economic landscape, growth, and development of the Davao Region.
According to Ungab, HB 8930’s principal author and sponsor at the Lower House, the creation of MDDA, consisting of six cities and nine municipalities in the Davao Region and shall be known as Metropolitan Davao, is in response to the fast growth and peculiar urbanization of the region.
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.
Ungab noted that the MDDA creation is one of the initiatives of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, being the head of the Metropolitan Davao Development Coordinating Committee (MDDCC), a special committee under the Regional Development Council -Davao Region.
The legislator noted that 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 is confident that with the MDDA creation, the need for a synchronized and unified development in the Davao region will now be addressed.
He also thanked 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 Tolentino as former chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority greatly contributed to the polishing and fine-tuning of the MDDA Bill.
The representative also thanked the co-authors of the MDDA bill in the Senate, namely, fellow Dabawenyo Senators Bato dela Rosa, and Christopher “Bong” Go, along with Imee Marcos and Majority Floor Leader Migs Zubiri.
Prior to its passage in the Senate, HB 8930 was passed by the House of Representatives on March 25, 2021.
Tolentino, in his speech, emphasized the importance of creating the MDDA amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As we continue to implement post pandemic recovery efforts in the country, we are witnessing that critical decisions such as vaccine distribution, curfew implementation, and community quarantine measures are made not by each local government unit but in unison through metropolitan councils or regions,” the senator said.