Ordinary citizens can actually contribute a lot in the implementation of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).

On March 28–30, the PRDP South Luzon Cluster launched its Citizen’s Monitoring campaign in Macalelon, Quezon. This activity aims to promote awareness and social responsibility in the implementation of PRDP subprojects that will later on affect the community.

“While we do monitor every PRDP subproject in the cluster, we cannot focus on all of them at once. This is where citizen-monitors come in, and be our eyes and ears in the field,” PRDP South Luzon Project Support Office (PSO) Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Officer Arvin San Juan said.

Those who served as members of the Community Monitoring Team (CMT) for the pilot activity in the 6-km Concreting of San Nicolas-Malabahay farm-to-market road (FMR) in Macalelon represented different sectors of the community.

Monitoring tools

PRDP NPCO GIS Officer Joseph Pacon demonstrates how to use the PRDPgo! app during the training with the different components and units. This new app will be used by the CMTs during their site validation.

“Even non-engineers can use geotagging tools,” PRDP National Project Coordination Office (NPCO) Geotagging and Governance Unit (GGU) GIS Officer Joseph Pacon said. These Applied Geotagging Tools (AGTs) can be used as proof of the findings and recommendations that the CMTs will share to the PRDP management.

The majority of issues to be monitored are technical. According to NPCO Infrastructure Development (I-BUILD) Component Rural Infrastructure Specialist Ernesto Pitok, the CMTs must know how to spot the errors (and good practices) committed by contractors, since they will be in the site more frequently.

“We need to ensure that the people and the environment are not adversely affected by the subproject,” NPCO Social and Environmental Safeguards (SES) Unit Environmental Safeguards Officer Bey de Castro said. She tackled the different social and environmental issues that should be checked especially in the construction of FMRs.

An opportunity for students

“Maswerte kayo dahil noong nag-aaral kami, walang ganito (You’re lucky because there were no opportunities like this when I was a student),” Pitok said. Civil Engineering students of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Lopez branch were identified to be the first batch of student-members of the CMT. The said school is the nearest one to Macalelon and it offers engineering programs.

The partnership of PUP Lopez, PRDP, and Macalelon LGU started when Branch Director Rufo Bueza allowed the participation of students as one way to use in real-life constructions the theories they learn in school. Originally designed as an on-the-job training, the plan was revised to serve as an extension service of PUP Lopez for their students as the CMTs were required to monitor the subprojects up to (and beyond) its completion.

A student participant from PUP Lopez enters the reinforced concrete pipe culvert (RCPC) to see how the contractor constructed the infrastructure.

“Kahit estudyante pa lang kami, alam namin na lahat tayo ay dapat makialam sa lahat ng proyekto ng gobyerno. Dapat natin itong bantayan dahil sa huli, tayo rin naman ang makikinabang dito (Even if we are still students, we know that we should all be involved in the [implementation] of government projects. We should keep watch on it, because in the end, we are also the ones who will benefit from it,” James Brian Villegas, PUP Lopez civil engineering student, said.

Students showed their interest and appreciation of the tools and procedures that PRDP shared with them. One of the said tools was the “PRDPgo!,” an app which combined geotagged photos with geo-SMS. According to Pacon, the Macalelon CMTs will be one of the first to use this tool as this tool is yet to be launched by midyear. Geotagged photos, an innovative tool of PRDP, are photos with embedded coordinates and unique barcodes the prevent photo manipulation. The geo-SMS, in comparison, lets the user send his/her exact location using the app. The message includes the captured geotagged photo.

Villegas added that the AGT tools will be useful especially when they cannot visit the site. “Sa mga pagkakataon na mga taga-barangay lang ang makakapunta sa FMR at hindi kami kasama, p’wede pa rin naming mabantayan ang project sa pamamagitan nito (On those times when only CMT members from barangays can visit the site, we can still monitor the subproject through the geotagged photos they take),” he said.

Barangays, CSOs ensure constant surveillance

A veteran on monitoring different government and international projects in Macalelon, Rodora Mangloy said she learned something new. As the president of Rio Monte Parents Association and Civil Society Organization (CSO) representative to the CMT, she knew the importance of citizens’ participation.

“Sa mga ganitong activity, empowered kami. Marami kaming natutunan na mga proseso na maaari naming magamit din sa pagbabantay ng proyekto sa aking grupo (These activities help us be empowered. We learn new things and processes that we can also use in monitoring our group’s project),” Mangloy said.

Some of the issues discussed in terms of technical procedures and processes that should be constantly reviewed include inspection and testing procedures (earthworks, subgrade preparation), surface course (aggregate sub-base course, PCCP construction methodology), structural concrete, and other structures such as RCPC, riprap, and grouted riprap).

The said participants were also oriented on how to monitor social-related concerns such as clearing and grubbing, and occupational health and safety. Additional discussions focused on environmental issues such as slope stability and sedimentation and other concerns that affect physical cultural resources and grievance redress mechanism. For PRDP subproject sites with indigenous peoples communities, it was emphasized that their issues must also be aired and dealt with.

Members of the CMT discuss the things they saw during the site validation.

“Boluntaryo lamang itong gawain na ito para sa akin. Kaysa sayangin ang aking oras sa mga bagay na walang kabuluhan, magandang gamitin na lang ito sa mga bagay na magsisiguro sa kahusayan ng ating kalsada (I volunteered for this endeavor. Instead of wasting my time doing unnecessary things, it is better to use my idle time doing something to ensure the quality of construction of our FMR),” Mangloy said. ### (Lawrence Albert Bariring, CALABARZON RPCO InfoACE Unit)