REVITALIZING ECONOMY. Members of the committee on tourism of the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) convene on Thursday (March 24, 2022) as part of the initiatives to revitalize the council. The revitalization is necessary as the economy starts to pick up after the health pandemic. (Photo courtesy of Velma Jane Lao)
ILOILO CITY – The city government here is revitalizing the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) as the economy starts to pick up after the pandemic.
The council chaired by Iloilo City with municipalities of Pavia, Oton, San Miguel, Sta.Barbara, Cabatuan, Leganes, and the province of Guimaras as members have slowed down due to the pandemic and change of administration, said Velma Jane Lao, executive director of the MIGEDC.
“We are now on work planning with committees,” she said in an interview on Thursday.
MIGEDC was created by virtue of Executive Order 559 signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on August 28, 2006.
Its task was to “formulate, coordinate and monitor programs, projects and activities for the acceleration of the economic growth” of the areas covered in support of the Mega-Region Economic Development Strategy of the national government.
Lao said that with the revitalization, she entertained the idea of looking at the advantages if the council will be institutionalized through legislation or if the local government units (LGUs) will just stay on working together.
She will also work on the expansion of the council and will be confirming if municipalities that have long signified to join are still interested.
The council executive director added that it would be better if the group is established before there will be spillover of economic activities since there is already an established mechanism.
“That’s why there is the MIGEDC so they can sit down and talk together when the development has something to do with the city and has spillover in adjacent areas,” she added.
In a previous press conference, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said the municipalities of Dumangas and Zarraga have expressed their intention to be part of the MIGEDC.
Treñas added that the city would like to also assist other members of the council as it gears to become a Smart and Innovation City.
The city government, he said, has been talking with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Department of Information and Communication (DICT) bringing with them the whole Metro Iloilo and Guimaras. (PNA)
