‘Metro Manila needs governor, not MMDA’

MANILA, Philippines - The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) should be replaced by a regional government elected by voters in the area, Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay said yesterday.

“It is about time that we have a full-time working Metropolitan Manila government headed by a governor elected by the people,” he said in filing Bill 4758 titled, “An Act Creating The Metropolitan Manila Government.”

He said the elected regional government would replace the MMDA, which is headed by a chairman appointed by the President and which serves as a coordinating body with the elected mayors of the 16 cities and one town in the region.

He said the MMDA is just a coordinating agency and mayors could defy the agency and its chairman.

Under the Atienza bill, the Metro Manila government would be composed of a governor, vice governor and a council, where each congressional district has one representative. 

The governor and vice governor would be elected metro-wide, while the council representatives would be voted in their respective districts like congressmen. 

The metro government would take over all the powers of the MMDA.