ROAD RULES. The Traffic Enforcement Unit of the Davao City Police Office conducts a random inspection along Quimpo Boulevard on April 11, 2022. Enforcers check motorists' compliance with the speed limit of 40 kilometers per hour. (PNA photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.)
MANILA – The newly created Metro Davao Development Authority (MDDA) will be an improved version of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), according to the latter’s former chief, Sen. Francis Tolentino.
Tolentino said in an online show Monday that the MMDA was created to address congestion and other mutual problems encountered by local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region, unlike the MDDA which preempts future problems in Metro Davao.
The MMDA also has police authority to consider in implementing peace and order while the Metro Davao Police Force will have a separate mandate from the Police Regional Office and police provincial offices.
"Nakita natin ‘to nung simula ng pandemic eh. Iba ‘yung curfew, iba ‘yung lockdown, napakagulo (We saw this at the start of the pandemic. The curfews [that the LGUs enforced] wee different, the lockdowns were different, it was confusing)," Tolentino said.
In his interview with vice presidential bet and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in Net25’s “Sa Ganang Mamamayan,” Tolentino discussed how the MDDA can create its own ordinance, unlike MMDA which depends on the ordinances implemented by LGUs.
Duterte thanked Tolentino and the Senate for the passage into law of Republic Act 11708 which establishes the MDDA.
She mentioned peace and order, solid waste management, traffic management, and transportation as the immediate concerns that the MDDA needs to address.
"Hopefully, kung sino po 'yung mapiling chairman ng Metropolitan Davao ay mapagplanuhan nila ng maayos at ma-execute nila at the soonest possible time ‘yung collaboration (Hopefully, whoever is chosen to be the chairman of Metro Davao, will plan properly and execute the collaboration at the soonest possible time)," she said.
MDDA's jurisdiction, also called Metro Davao, includes Davao City and the nearby cities of Panabo, Tagum, and Samal in Davao del Norte; Digos in Davao del Sur; Mati in Davao Oriental; and the municipalities of Sta. Cruz, Hagonoy, Padada, Malalag and Sulop in Davao del Sur; Carmen in Davao del Norte; Maco in Davao de Oro; and Malita and Sta. Maria in Davao Occidental.
The governing board and policy-making body will be the Metropolitan Davao Development Council, composed of the chairperson of the Regional Development Council-Region 11, governors of the five provinces, six city mayors, and nine municipal mayors. (PNA)
