Members of the Mindanao private sector are bracing for a greater involvement in vital issues and concerns affecting Mindanao’s development, having recently completed their representation to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) board.
Amina Rasul-Bernardo, representing the NGO, and lawyer Rejoice Subejano, representing the academe, were officially sworn in as members of the MinDA board during the second MinDA board meeting held here last week.
Last January, Johann Jake Miranda, president of the Surigao Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was also appointed as the business sector representative to the MinDA board.
Under Republic Act 9996, an act creating the MinDA, three of the 17-member MinDA board shall be composed of representatives from the private sector to be appointed by the president, upon the recommendation of the board.
The private sector shall be composed of one representative each from the Mindanao business, academic and non-government organization sectors.
“I am really happy to be part of MinDA whose focus now is to be inclusive. We’re looking at all stakeholders coming together and on how we can cooperate and collaborate so that we can have one Mindanao,” said Rasul-Bernardo, a noted peace and human rights advocate.
She noted that through MinDA’s participatory development approach, Mindanao civil society organizations (CSOs) will soon be integrated into the development planning process and take part in helping the island-region catch up with the rest of the country.
Rasul-Bernardo is the concurrent president of PCID, a network of Muslim democracy advocates which had successfully helped organize a national network of Muslim religious organizations -the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines (NUCP), with over 150 organizations as members.
She is also a recipient of the 2007 Muslim Democrat of the Year Award from the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in recognition of her life-long advocacy of democracy and peace in Muslim Mindanao.
Meanwhile, Atty. Subejano said that educational institutions in Mindanao will play a key role in developing Mindanao.
“I will try to see how the academe can integrate its share of responsibility of producing human resource that will be responsive to the needs of the growing Mindanao,” he said.
A native of Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, Subejano has been a member of the academe, serving as professorial lecturer at the Mindanao State University College of Law, MSU-IIT Iligan City Campus since 1999 up to the present. [MinDA]
Chaired by Secretary Antonino, the MinDA board is composed of the heads of the six regional development councils in Mindanao, namely, Dipolog City Mayor Evelyn Uy (RDC 9), Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz (RDC 10), Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio (RDC 11), General Santos City Mayor Darlene Magnolia Antonino-Custodio (RDC 12), NEDA 13 Regional Director Carmencita Cochingco (OIC for RDC Caraga) and ARMM Regional Governor Ansarrudin Adiong.
Other members also include Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri; Rep. Arnulfo Go, chair of the House Committee on Mindanao Affairs; Rep. Ma. Rachel Arenas, chair of the House Committee on BIMP-EAGA affairs; Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, president of CONFED-Mindanao and Southern PhilippinesDevelopment Authority (SPDA) Administrator Sultan Yahya Jerry Tomawis.
The board also includes representatives from the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).
