Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said he is confident that an increase in the budget for the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and the continued financial support for the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) would boost the economic growth of Mindanao.
Dela Rosa, who defended the proposed 2025 budgets of the agencies said increasing MinDA’s budget by P67-million to accommodate more programs, would ensure continuous development in the island.
The P67-million hike cover the MinDA Digitalization Innovations Program, support for sustainable operations of the Mindanao River Basin Program, and the Strengthening of the Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao Program Year 2.
According to Dela Rosa, MinDA has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The senator said this would ensure a harmonized development in the souther part of the Philippines, particularly in infrastructure programs.
“BARMM sits in the MinDA board as one of its board members. MinDA entered into a memorandum of cooperation with the BARMM Development and Planning Authority (BPDA). MinDA designated a focal person for the BARMM and BPDA is provided with an office in MinDA for their use when they're in Mindanao,” Dela Rosa said.
The Senate has proposed a P334.515-million budget for MinDA under its version of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
At the same time, Dela Rosa defended the P80.29-million budgetary support for SPDA—a government-owned and controlled corporation which is mandated to promote Southern Philippines by initiating business projects of corporate and economic in nature in various sectors.
He commended the SPDA for its investments on abaca production, poultry, fish pond estate projects, and pineapple fiber project.
Dela Rosa explained that while SPDA has other sources of income, they need budgetary support as there was no income that was generated from one of their subsidiaries, specifically the Marawi Resort Hotel Inc.
“Hindi po nasayang ang ating pondo na nilalagay sa ating (national budget) (The funds we pour into them do not go into waste). They are really working hard to alleviate the living standards of mga tao sa laylayan (people who are at the bottom),” the senator remarked.