Despite the declaration of non-working holiday on September 1, the first interagency convergence meetings for the implementation of the Provincial Commodity Investment Plans (PCIPs) of Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque continued at the Ramada Manila Central.

In accordance to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), the Provincial Local Government Units (PLGUs) of Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque, and partner National Government Agencies (NGAs), an interagency meeting shall be held quarterly for the monitoring of the PCIP implementation.

The said meetings were organized by the local and national level planning (I-PLAN) component of the MIMAROPA Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) and the Provincial Planning and Development Offices (PPDOs) of Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque.

Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali and Marinduque Governor Carmencita Reyes chaired the interagency meeting of their respective provinces.

For the Province of Oriental Mindoro, the agencies that presented their programs for calamansi were the Mindoro State College and Technology (MinSCaT), the Regional Field Units of Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Council (RAFC).

Governor Umali raised his concern about the partner agencies’ projects. With an encouragement to focus on economical projects that would surely make agriculture a viable livelihood for the people, he said, “If we are thinking about leaving a legacy, we should put in mind that our projects should be people-centered.”

Other concerns raised during the meeting include the branding of calamansi, consolidation of products, marketing, harmonization of data from the LGU to the PSA, and timeline for the proposed projects, among others.

During the meeting on the Marinduque PCIP, the NGAs represented were DA, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Provincial Science and Technology Department, DAR, DTI,  Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Marinduque State College (MSC), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and RAFC.

Department of Agriculture MIMAROPA High Value Crop Development Program Focal Person Corazon Sinnung (right, standing) discusses their programs and projects for Marinduque’s arrowroot to Gov. Carmencita Reyes (second from left) and NGA representatives during the province’s first interagency convergence meeting on September 1. (Photo by Denice Joelle Benosa, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)

Governor Reyes expressed her gratitude to the PRDP for initiating the convergence and for its enthusiasm in helping develop the province’s priority commodities such as arrowroot and coco geonet.

“Walang wikang makapaglalahad ng aming nag-uumapaaw na pasasalamat sa PRDP dahil sa pagsama-sama ninyo sa mga national agencies. Dahil kapag sama-sama [tiyak] na malaki ang magagawa (No words can explain how thankful I am to PRDP because you linked the national agencies [to work together]. Because of this, we can surely do a lot),” she said.

The agencies and the Marinduque PLGU tackled organic agriculture, location of agricultural tramline, marketing strategies for arrowroot and geonet, and trainings, among others.

During the meetings, the PLGUs were able to comment on the planned programs and projects for the provinces’ priority commodities, specifically, calamansi for Oriental Mindoro, and arrowroot and coconut for Marinduque. They also discussed some issues concerning the agencies present and identified possible resolution for development. ### (Denice Joelle Benosa, DA-PRDP RPCO 4B InfoACE Unit)