By Ellson A. Quismorio
Who says the House of Representatives has forgotten all about Mindanao?
The House Committee on Mindanao Affairs chaired by Cagayan de Oro 2nd Rep. Maximo Rodriguez has began discussions on the proposal to raise the 2019 budget for Mindanao through a technical working group (TWG).
Rodriguez said the TWG was created to further study all possible ways by which the budget allocations for Mindanao could be increased for the purpose of uplifting the socio-economic conditions in the region, especially in its poor provinces.
Rodriguez noted that the region has been getting only a small percentage of the budgets of government agencies and departments.
During the meeting presided by committee vice chairman Misamis Oriental 1st district Rep. Peter Unabia, officials of the Department of Tourism (DOT) presented the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP), a convergence program of the DOT and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
TRIP aims to encourage more tourist visits with the proposed rehabilitation or construction of roads leading to local tourist destinations.
DOT Assistant Secretary Maria Lourdes Japson expressed full support for the move to increase the 2019 budget for Mindanao in order to improve the socio-economic conditions in the region.
Japson said any increase in the budget of the southern DOT regional offices would allow them to implement meaningful capability-building projects.
She said DOT regional directors in the area started discussing and identifying additional plans and programs for possible implementation.
The TRIP, which has identified 677 projects nationwide, is expected to be fully accomplished by the year 2022, said Japson.
Aside from the DOT, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) also presented their 2019 budget proposals and plans and programs for Mindanao.