INCOMING 3rd District Representative of Albay and current Polangui Mayor Adrian Salceda announced plans to file a bill in July that will institutionalize the Quinale Development Consortium (QDC)—a multi-local government coordination body originally formed under Administrative Order No. 83, s. 2003, through the initiative of then Presidential Economic Adviser Joey Salceda.
The proposed measure seeks to give the QDC a legal foundation as the inter-LGU platform for development and disaster planning across the Quinale River Basin, placing it under the technical supervision of the River Basin Control Office (RBCO) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), with mandatory annual reporting to the Office of the President.
“The Quinale Basin affects us all—Libon, Oas, Polangui—and even towns beyond Albay. If we act separately, we lose funds, we lose time, and we get flooded. This bill gives us the structure to act together, without creating a new bureaucracy,” Salceda said.
The Quinale River Basin spans over 850 square kilometers, affecting more than 230,000 residents and nearly 18,000 hectares of farmland. Its seasonal flooding patterns have long required basin-wide solutions that go beyond political boundaries.
Under the bill, the initial members of the QDC will be Libon, Oas, and Polangui. Other LGUs—such as Ligao City, Guinobatan, Pio Duran, Jovellar, and select municipalities in Camarines Sur and Sorsogon—may join upon consensus and ratification by the Consortium’s governing council.
The bill provides for the following core functions:
Coordinate flood control, land use, zoning, and climate adaptation;
Facilitate joint submissions of infrastructure and environmental projects to national agencies;
Prevent overlapping or misaligned LGU projects through a basin-wide planning lens;
Report annually to the Office of the President on basin status and development needs.
Salceda clarified that the QDC will operate with no new bureaucracy and no separate line-item budget. All implementation will still be done through local governments or existing national agencies.
“This is not another office with overhead. It’s a coordination body to help us unlock funds and avoid costly mistakes in planning. We want longer-lasting roads, better flood control, and faster approvals for our projects,” he said.
The QDC was first created during the Arroyo administration by virtue of an administrative order proposed by then Presidential Economic Adviser Joey Salceda, in recognition of the Quinale Basin’s unique risks and strategic value to Albay’s development.
“This is one of the first bills I will file when I take office in July. It honors a legacy that started with my uncle Joey Salceda—but more importantly, it gives Libon, Oas, and Polangui a fighting chance to get ahead of floods, plan smarter, and grow together,” Salceda added.
