DAVAO CITY—The regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) office here was asked to head the Metropolitan Davao Development Coordinating Committee (MDDCC), the interim structure until the full activation of the Metropolitan Davao Development Authority (MDDA).
Congress passed last year Republic Act No. 11708, the aggrupation of the key cities in the Davao Region and the bigger towns within to form the MDDA. Davao City is the central area of the metropolitan authority.
The Philippine Information Agency said that last month, the regional development council (RDC), of which the Neda is a key agency, passed RDC 11 Resolution No. 165 series of 2022 appointing Neda 11 Regional Director Maria Lourdes D. Lim to head the MDDCC.
RDC 11 chairperson Corazon N. Malanyaon, provincial governor of Davao Oriental, cited “the need for Lim to continue shepherding the MDDCC which formerly was headed by now Vice President [and Education Secretary] Sara Z. Duterte during the term 2019 to 2022.”
After Duterte left the MDDCC chairmanship to focus on her vice-presidency duties on June 30 last year, the MDDCC chairperson seat was rendered vacant. “The RDC 11 is duty-bound to run the MDDCC as it is a special body of RDC 11 created thru RDC 11 Resolution No. 72, series of 2017,” the RDC said in a statement issued last week.
The RDC said the MDDCC “is the transitory structure for inter-local government unit cooperation that serves as a mechanism for coordinated planning, investment programming, project facilitation, and monitoring of the Metropolitan Davao development initiatives.”
In appointing Lim, the RDC 11 Resolution 165 cited “the crucial work that Neda 11 Regional Director Lim rendered for the MDDCC being the vice chairperson of the RDC 11, at the transition period of 2022 national and local elections…officials.”
“She shepherded the Committee and presided over its regular meetings beginning the second semester of 2022, as well as acted on its day-to-day operations, necessary to continue the initiative of the MDDCC for the Metropolitan Davao development,” the resolution read.
The key components of such development were the formulation of the Comprehensive and Sustainable Urban Development Master Plan pursued through a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the implementation of the MDDA.
“The RDC 11, hence, has found value to the recommendation of the MDDCC, while citing the designation of Neda 11 Regional Director Lim as chairperson of the MDDCC as necessary for the continuity of efforts for the development of Metropolitan Davao,” it said.