Key Mindanao leaders coming from various sectors have expressed all-out support to the efforts of Congress to enact a bill for a stronger Mindanao Economic Development Authority (MEDA).

The House of Representatives had passed the MEDA measure recently, which is designed to replace the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo) presently chaired by Virgilio Leyretana.

In the Senate, a sub-committee recommended the consolidation into one bill of the 10 measures under MEDA. A final draft of the MEDA bill in the Upper House will, hopefully, be filed next week.

MEDCo, as observed by Mindanaoans, is a government agency that is at the mercy of every new administration. Thus, supporters of MEDA from both chambers of Congress want to make permanent the agency in terms of its officials.

Stalwarts of Mindanao’s different sectors, such as business, local government, religious, academe and youth sectors trooped to the Senate to show their strong support to MEDA last September 15 during the MEDA sub-committee hearing.

In a statement from MEDCo, Vicente Lao, chairperson of the Mindanao Business Council, cited the need to have a government agency whose officials are not easily replaced.

“We really need some sort of permanency to advocate business policies in Mindanao. The problem we have is that sometimes decisions are made in the central government which considers the macro-economic benefits of the country to the detriment of the people in Mindanao,” Lao said.

In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the administration of Regional Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan has also aired its backing for the creation of MEDA.

Speaking through ARMM Executive Secretary Oscar Sampulna, the regional chief executive said all Mindanaoans should come out in full support to MEDA.

Sampulna said he attended two MEDA hearings in the past and conveyed the autonomous government’s supports.

“In expressing our support, I also made clear that MEDA or any other new Mindanao government agencies must not run counter to the Charter of the ARMM or any of its provisions for a better working relationship,” said Sampulna.

“As Mindanaoans who work for and want the island to attain peace and economic development, the officials, populace, and business groups in ARMM are truly in support to strengthen MEDCo through MEDA,” he added.

Konsult Mindanao’s Fr. Albert Alejo, project director, noted the need for a development body that works for all Mindanaoans. “We need an institution that goes beyond religious and ethnic division, an agency which has a vision and mandate more focused than helicopter planning.”