Undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana, Medco Chair, said the proposed agency will be a body that will plan a comprehensive strategy for the development of Mindanao.

Among the laws that Leyretana was referring to were the Presidential Decree 690 signed by the late President Ferdinand Marcos on April 22, 1975 which created the Southern Philippines Development Administration and abolished the Mindanao Development Authority (MDA) the Presidential Task Force for Reconstruction and Development for Mindanao, and the Special Program Assistance for the Rehabilitation of Evacuees.

He also pointed out that there have been several proposals pending before the Lower House, among them the House Bill 5620 of Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City, and the House Bill 5255 filed by Reps. Simeon Datumanong of Maguindanao and Datu Pax Mangudadatu of Sultan Kudarat.

Another proposal is that the House Bill 00186 authored by Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara which is also similar to the other proposals.

He said the consolidation and the eventual approval into a law of the proposals will give more power and more budget to the council to consolidate efforts for the development of Mindanao.

He, however, said it would not imply that there will be an overlapping of responsibilities with other government agencies such as the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which has a specific regional planning mandate nor would it come in conflict with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) which is national in scope.

By virtue of Executive Order 757, MedCo has been placed since last year under the oversight of NEDA. The move was, however, criticized by many sectors including the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. because of the fear that this would reduce the attention of the national government on Mindanao.

Leyretana said a specific government body that will advocate for the cause is necessary considering the disparity in budget and attention given to the island's development.

He said the island remains insecure in terms of infrastructure and social services investment among others. As an example, he noted that Mindanao only has 4, 359.06 kilometers of paved road as of 2007 compared to the 10, 359.06 kilometers of Luzon or of the 5, 850.68 kilometers of Visayas.

On the other hand, the island also lacks support on irrigation, an infrastructure vital for its agricultural sector.

He said last year Mindanao only has 31.50 percent irrigated lands compared to the 49.85 percent in Luzon despite Mindanao having 656, 000 hectares of farms need to be irrigated. "If we can restore farms and put irrigation, we can reduce the rice shortage (in the country) by over 60 percent," he added.

Leyretana said Mindanao only received a total of P31.81 billion overall budget in 2008 compared to the P51.29 billion in Luzon. The island's budget is slightly higher compared to Visayas.

He said the national government should take note of the island's contribution to the country's growth and equally provide for its budgetary needs.

Last year, Mindanao's economic growth was pegged at 7.4 percent which is equivalent to the national growth.

It also had a total of P12.897 billion investments as of the third quarter of the year with Region 10 contributing P8.163 billion.

"It is ironic that while Mindanao's economy showed resilience, six out of 10 (poorest) provinces are in Mindnao. Also 19.2 percent of the population are also considered food-poor," he said.