SPDA holds Consultative-Forum and Community Participatory Planning Activities

By JONG D. CADION

PAGADIAN CITY (July 13, 2018) -The Southern Philippines Development Authority headed by its administrator and chief executive officer Abdulgani “Gerry” A. Salapuddin facilitated a Consultative-Forum and Community Participatory Planning Activities held at the Ibiza Hall, Marcian Garden Hotel, Zamboanga City earlier Wednesday, military official said.

LTC Gerry M. Besana, WesMinCom spokesperson disclosed that Salapudin presented the SPDA’s concept on PEACE (People Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment) Villages in Southern Philippines that intends to have its pilot model community of four barangays in the Municipality of Tungawan in ZamboangaSibugay Province.

The four barangays composed of Lo-ok Labuan, Linguisan, Taglibas and Tigbukaswill be called the Linguisan PEACE Village as pilot project of a viable and self-sustaining socio-economic development program intended for MNLF elements outside the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), LTC Besana said.

Besana added that to realize the PEACE, SPDA recommends the convergence of all government agencies to form a Government Inter-Agency Task Force to formulate the framework of development for the PEACE Village eyeing 2019 as its grand launching with the approval of Congress.

The SPDA project is envisioned to become one of the flagship programs of PRRD’s administration that will provide a tangible legacy for enduring peace and development not only in Mindanao but all throughout the country, LTC Besana explained.

LTC Besana added that Salapudin believes that ‘peace is not given; it is won.’ Therefore, it behooves upon the government and all players and stakeholders to join hands together to make it happen.

He also emphasized that we must not wait for time to unfold itself before our eyes. We, the actors and stakeholder, must seize the opportunity to make it happen. With God’s will and our firm belief coupled with our determination and political will to get it done, God willing, In Shaa Allah, it shall happen within the Duterte administration.

All stakeholders present, from the representatives of various national government agencies, local government units, the identified barangays where the project will be piloted, including the AFP represented by the WestMinCom, expressed support to the initiative through respective response and reaction after the concept presentation. The expression was also made through the signing on the commitment wall, Besana said.

Lastly, the SPDA also made a preview of its other ambitious projects to be implemented on its various owned lands in Mindanao that would make the Southern Philippines the country’s frontier instead of its usual identity as the country’s backdoor, WesMinCom spokesperson disclosed.