President Arroyo Names Leyretana As MEDco Chairman

MEDco chairman Virgilio Leyretana.

MANILA (Mark Navales / 13 Oct) - President Gloria Arroyo appointed Undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana as chairman of the Mindanao EconomicDevelopment Council (MEDCo).

MEDco is mandated to coordinate and integrate the government’s peace and development efforts in Mindanao region.

Leyretana is the fourth to be appointed as chairman since MEDCo's creation in1992. Among his predecessors include former Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Paul Dominguez, former Mindanao Business Council Chair Sebastian Angliongto and Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza.

MEDco coordinates key agencies in the implementation and monitoring of vital government infrastructure projects,and in pushing for policy reforms needed to secure a constantly improving economic environment throughout the island region.

For the past eight months, Leyretana served as MEDco’s officer-in-charge following the appointment of Dureza to head the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Leyretana was also Deputy Presidential Assistant for Mindanao in 2001 to 2003, and Executive Director of the Mindanao Peace and Development Fund (SPDA) in 2003.

He also served as concurrent chairman of the Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) Mindanao.

Previously, Leyretana headed the Task Force on Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) to oversee retrieval and safekeeping of funds and assets of SPDA following its deactivation in 2002.

He was a former vice mayor and mayor of Cotabato City from 1995 to 1998 and also headed the Vice Mayor’s League of the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner/MEDco)