The growing economic disparity between Naga City and its surrounding municipalities led to a large influx of migrants to the city, a situation which unduly taxed its resources. Likewise, the growing need for goods and services—and space—by Naga 's urban economy necessitates complementation by its surrounding municipalities. These twin issues set the stage for Naga 's initiative to form the Metro Naga Development Council (MNDC). They also defined the orientation of the Council being the complementation of functions and balanced growth. Expanded delivery of basic services became another important concern when it became clear that this was woefully short in some of the municipalities.

The MNDC, a partnership among the LGUs, pools together the efforts and resources of 13 local government units, the private sector and the national government agencies in Camarines Sur focusing on projects and activities which address the immediate needs of the community and lay the groundwork for the long-term growth of the area.

The MNDC development activities and is meant to have specific task forces for the different concerns of development. The idea is to focus on the maximization of resources to reach more constituents, thus widening the target coverage with practically the same logistical capacity.

The council is a pioneering exercise of the expanded powers and prerogatives of LGUs under their new devolved functions. Its formation is unique because it was initiated by local officials rather than imposed from above. This synergy works to the advantage not only of poor members but also of the relatively well-endowed LGUs as this broadens their choice of resources. This has also institutionalized the "big brother" concept in local government relations where better-off LGUs directly assist their poorer neighbors.

This program is recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Programs in the 1994 Galing Pook Awards.