President Aquino abolishes Task Force on Mindanao River Basin Rehab
President Benigno S. Aquino III has abolished the Cotabato City-based Presidential Task Force on Mindanao River Basin Rehabilitation and Development (PTFMRBRD) as part of the administration’s efforts to streamline government and generate cost savings.
President Benigno S. Aquino III has abolished the Cotabato City-based Presidential Task Force on Mindanao River Basin Rehabilitation and Development (PTFMRBRD) as part of the administration’s efforts to streamline government and generate cost savings.
The President made the directive in Executive Order (EO) No. 50, signed on July 28, 2011, which transfers the duties and functions of the task force to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), River Basin Control Office (RBCO) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council-Office of Civil Defense (NDRRMC-OCD).
PTFMRBRD was created in 2008 to draw up a master plan for a long-term solution to floods in the Mindanao region. It reports directly to the Office of the President.
However, Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. said on Sunday that the President found the functions of PTFMRBRD to be redundant with those of other existing national government agencies.
“This is consistent with the administration’s thrust to streamline the bureaucracy by rationalizing agencies, offices and other bodies with related and overlapping functions,” Ochoa said.
“As all of us are aware that government has limited and finite financial resources, and we better maximize these by closing down redundant offices and using their funds where they’re needed instead,” added Ochoa.
Ochoa said the abolition of the task force was based on the recommendations of the National Economic Development Authority, DENR, and MinDA, and following assessments by various regional line agencies involved in the response efforts during last month’s massive flooding in Cotabato City, which affected almost one million residents.
He said the Department of Public Works and Highways, NDRRMC-OCD, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao-Regional Planning and Development Office noted that the PTFMRBRD was “merely a monitoring and recommendatory body and does not have the authority over the regional line agencies which are actually implementing the projects and programs related to the mandate of the task force.”
Ochoa said several representatives from civil society organizations and the academe also recommended the abolition of the PTFMRBRD during consultations with them.
The Executive Secretary also said that the task force was unnecessary since the MinDA, RBCO and NDRRMC-OCD can effectively perform its different functions.
Under EO 50, MinDA was directed to create and implement a master plan for the management and development of the Mindanao river basin (MRB); negotiate and receive grants and donation of funds for the rehabilitation of areas affected by disaster; spearhead and coordinate all actions to rehabilitate and develop the MRB affected areas; and conduct resource mobilization activities.
The RBCO, on the other hand, was tasked to help develop the MRB master plan by providing technical assistance aimed at making the program self-sustaining and with multi-sectoral involvement.
The EO also directed the NDRRMC-OCD to identify and package relief rehabilitation and long-term interventions for the MRB affected areas and ensure that the master plan is consistent with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan and Framework.
Personnel affected by the abolition of the PTFMRBRD shall be eligible for benefits available under applicable laws and regulations.
