Davide backs creation of Mega Cebu Dev’t Authority
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and running mate Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale explain their platforms during the Mega Cebu candidates’ forum. With them is Evelyn Nacario-Castro of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
UNLIKE his rival, One Cebu gubernatorial bet Winston Garcia, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he supports the creation of the Mega Cebu Development Authority.
“Under the Local Government Code, the powers of the governor are awesome. But we need the private stakeholders,” he said during a candidates’ forum at the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.-Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (RAFI-EADSC) yesterday.
Also present during the forum was Davide’s running mate, reelectionist Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale.
In last week’s forum, Garcia said he doesn’t believe in the creation of offices like the Mega Cebu Development Authority (MCDA) to solve Cebu’s problems brought about by poor urban planning.
He said he would rather amend the charter of the provincial government and strengthen the coordinating powers of the governor instead of creating “another office,” wherein bureaucracy will only make the government more inefficient.
One of the efforts of the Mega Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB), chaired by Davide, is the creation of the Mega Cebu Development Authority.
The proposed MCDA will coordinate all development efforts in 13 local government units that are part of the platform.
The MCDA bill, sponsored and co-authored by all Cebuano representatives, has been approved on committee level and will be re-filed in the next Congress.
The MCDCB is the implementing arm of the Mega Cebu platform, a consortium of government, private and civil society sector stakeholders that envisions sustained urban growth in Metro Cebu up to 2050.
In yesterday’s 888 News Forum at Marco Polo Plaza, reelectionist Sen. Ralph Recto told reporters he supports the creation of the MCDA, saying big cities in Metro Cebu have common problems like the traffic, water and garbage.
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