T HE MUCH-ANTICIPATED Metro Davao Development Authority (MDDA) will not likely happen within the remaining two months of this year or even in the first quarter of 2023.
This was the gist of what Davao City Third District Rep. Isidro “Sid” Ungab told TIMES in a chat interview early yesterday morning.
According to Rep. Ungab, the law creating the MDDA still needs to have a set of Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) to ensure the effectiveness of its functions. Ungab added that the IRR has to be crafted by a council that has to be constituted for the purpose. He said the members of the said body have yet to be appointed so they can start studying the details of the law and how this should be implemented.
Ungab who is the principal author of the bill in the House of Representatives added that he was scheduled to have a meeting this week in Malacanang on the matter of the constitution of the council. He was due to meet the representatives of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) under Zenaida Amping, and of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President headed by Davaoeno Anton Lagdameo.
However, he told the TIMES he was advised that the meeting has to be postponed to a still unspecified date.
It may be recalled that Ungab was virtually flooded with congratulatory messages when the bill he laboriously worked on in the House was signed by the President making it into a law. However, like all other laws with no accompanying IRR the one on MDDA cannot also be implemented.
Meanwhile, the Davao City third district solon was candid enough to say that he has yet to find out in Congress if there is any pending bill intended to amend the structure of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
This was in answer to a question the TIMES made regarding a chat message of former Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) head, undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana, seeking people’s thoughts on possible areas in the NEDA structure that may be subject to amendment.
Ungab said he still needs to look into the records of filed bills in the House. VNS
