Eyebrows were raised and jaws dropped when it was bared during the last Senate budget hearing that the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), an agency tasked with charting and overseeing the socio-economic development of Mindanao, only has an annual budget of P176-M.
“How could you do all these things with a budget that is smaller than the IRA of a huge barangay?,” was the question I was confronted with.
My answer?
It’s just a matter of a little luck, a lot of “diskarte” or ingenuity and prudent but maximum utilization of MinDA’s minuscule budget.
I guess I am lucky because when I moved to MinDA from the Department of Agriculture, the European Union had engaged MinDA to plan and manage the implementation of the Mindanao Rise Program through the German Development Agency, GIZ, and the World Bank.
With a total Grant Fund of P2.1-B, the biggest foreign funding assistance in MinDA’s history, we are now able to design programs which will be guided by four parameters:
1. The projects must result in reduced poverty in Mindanao;
2. The projects must improve productivity and contribute to Mindanao’s economic growth;
3. The projects must support peace-building;
4. The projects must trigger Mindanao’s economic recovery post COVID-19.
Under the Mindanao Rise Program, funds will be allocated to improve the post harvest facilities in Mindanao’s fishing grounds, support the corn industry through the estabixshment of Grains Storage Silos, address low prices for rubber and coconut by establishing processing and manufacturing facilities, and develop high-value vegetable production areas like the IMTASULA Complex in Bukidnon.
Projects which were designed and implemented using ingenuity or “diskarte” include the Mindanao Water Supply Program with the town of Taraka, Lanao del Sur as the model town, the Beauty and Bounty of Mindanao and the Green Mindanao Project.
The two projects, along with many other innovations in governance, will be implemented with MinDA acting just as a planner, project designer, integrator and linkage facilitator.
Starting tomorrow and everyday thereafter, I will introduce to the followers of this page and the public the various programs and projects initiated and undertaken by MinDA in spite of its very limited budget.
In all of my years in public service, I have always believed that the lack of funds should not stop us in government from thinking of ways to help our people.
The ability to adapt and adjust to a given situation are results of our upbringing as children of a poor family where nothing was ever enough.
“Kung mubo ang habol, pagtikungkong para dili matugnawan,” was the constant reminder of our elders.
“When the blanket is short, curl up so you won’t feel the cold,” a golden lesson which helped many poor kids like me to survive and succeed even in adverse and most difficult conditions.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#whenheartbeatsbrainworks!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Infographics were prepared by the Mindanao Development Authority Public Relations Division.)
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