The Province of Palawan will soon start the implementation of the Construction and Upgrading of Junction Salban-Culasian-Magsaysay Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) in the Municipality of Dumaran. This is the first infrastructure-type intervention that the province will implement through the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) under the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The subproject is worth more than P227 million and will cover 17.17 kilometers for the purpose of connecting the barangays of Danleg, Culasian which is a coastal community, and Magsaysay to the main road leading to where the market centers are located.

On January 23 – 24, 2020, the MIMAROPA Regional Project Coordination Office through the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Unit invited the Palawan Provincial Project Management and Implementing Unit (PPMIU) as well as the subproject’s beneficiaries for the conduct of the training on the use of the citizen monitoring tool (CMT).

Other than the barangay representatives such as the chairpersons and councilors, the training also included farmers, fisherfolk, traders, and residents which will eventually become the first members of the Barangay Inspectorate Team as the first responders on issues and concerns, together with the Palawan PPMIU.

The CMT, along with the other instruments developed by the Project, aims to make sure that its development interventions are maintained of its good quality through the involvement and participation of its end-users.

The training was used as a venue to capacitate the beneficiaries of the FMR to give them the basic idea on how they can contribute in the monitoring of the progress of their subproject. The CMT has a report system, though the guide questionnaire, which was also shared during the activity so that the participants can proficiently report their findings to the Palawan PPMIU as the FMR’s primary implementing unit.

The I-BUILD Component of the PRDP MIMAROPA initially outlined the basic infrastructure standards used in the construction of FMRs in general, focusing first on the elements of quality assurance. This will help the beneficiaries in properly identifying both the positive and negative progress points of their subproject that they may need to report.

In addition, an important aspect of the CMT is the social and environmental safeguards wherein the beneficiaries were introduced to particular situations that can occur during the construction period that could affect the community and the environment.

In fact, the Barangay Hall in Culasian will have to be demolished and moved in a different location to make way for a portion of the new road. According to the Dumaran Municipal Mayor Arnel Caabay, they will undertake the necessary steps to assist the barangay for the relocation of the said hall.

Also introduced during the training was the use of the geotagging tool by providing the participants the PRDP Camera smartphone application where they can capture geotagged photos of activities happening in every stretch of the FMR. These photos come with a barcode and precise location where it was taken to ensure of the real-time documentation of said activities.

Certainly, citizen monitoring gives subproject beneficiaries the opportunity to influence the timely and efficient execution of PRDP subprojects. With a good quality intervention comes a number of benefits that should contribute to the improvement of the beneficiaries’ socio-economic condition by providing them ways and opportunities to increase their production and income.  – Leira Vic Colongon, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit

The technical staff from DA-PRDP MIMAROPA gathers the beneficiaries of the Construction and Upgrading of Junction Salban-Culasian-Magsaysay FMR to orient them of situations that can occur during the construction period of the subproject that should be reported to the barangay or municipality.

Mayor Arnel Caabay of the Municipality of Dumaran, Palawan shares his expectations in using the citizen monitoring tool now that the Construction and Upgrading of Junction Salban-Culasian-Magsaysay FMR will start its construction.