DAVAO CITY – The Office of the President through Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea has recently revoked the planned abolition of the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) thereby reinstating the Authority’s full powers as a corporate entity mandated to implement various socioeconomic development programs in Southern Philippines.
In a memorandum dated September 14, 2018 signed by Medialdea and addressed to Samuel G. Dagpin, Jr., Chairperson of the Governance Commission for Government-owned and controlled corporations (GCG), Malacanang revoked the GCG memorandum dated November 26, 2013 relative to the proposed abolition of the SPDA and its subsidiary the Marawi Resort Hotel, Inc. (MRHI).
“Upon evaluation on the role of SPDA under Republic Act No. 11054, or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and the 1996 Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), please be informed that this Office cannot favourably act on your recommendation”, the document said.
It further directed the GCG to resolve the request of the SPDA to adopt the Modified Salary Schedule under Executive Order (EO) No. 201, series of 2016, pursuant to EO No. 36, series of 2017.
Elated by this development during the budget hearing at the House of Representatives in Quezon City last week, new SPDA Administrator Abdulghani ‘Gerry’ A. Salapuddin has disclosed today his new big ticket projects in Mindanao for a ten-year period during his term.
But prior to the restoration of the full powers and functions of the SPDA, Salapuddin had already drawn a roadmap towards the development of the existing projects and properties of the Authority in the various cities and provinces of Mindanao.
Among these SPDA properties include the 4.3-hectare property located at Calunan Pequeno in Davao City which was proposed to be transformed into a Medical City and would consist of a medical center, medical school, doctor’s mall, and a 15-storey condominium and convention center. Other SPDA properties that are set to be developed are located in Pikit, North Cotabato; Vitali, Zamboanga City; Butuan City; Koronadal City; Veterans Avenue, Zamboanga City; Pasobolong, Zamboanga City; and in Wao-Bumbaran in Lanao del Sur.
Salapuddin said that with the revitalization of SPDA’s mandate, he would exert all his efforts to give birth to the following entities that would help boost economic activities in Mindanao. They would be the SPDA–Basilan Steel Corporation (BSC); SPDA-Mindanao Agricultural Corporation (MAC); SPDA-Mindanao Telecommunications Company (MTC); SPDA-Mindanao Oil Corporation (MOC); SPDA-Mindanao Railway Corporation (MRC); SPDA-Mindanao Rural Reconstruction Development (MRRD); SPDA-Sulu Free Port Authority (SuFPA); and SPDA-Mindanao Institution for Leadership Education (MILED).
Salapuddin took the helm of SPDA on February 6, this year, after President Rodrigo Roa Duterte appointed him on February 2.
(For further inquiries, please contact Celestino B. Siglos, Ed.D. at the SPDA Administrator’s Office at tel. nos. (082)297-6664; 298-5745; email: info@spda.gov.ph)
