To have an overview of the overall performance of the cluster in the previous quarter, the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) North Luzon Cluster, through the Project Support Office (PSO), held its second quarter assessment with Regional Project Coordination Offices (RPCOs) from July 20 – 22, 2022 at Angeles City, Pampanga.

PSO Deputy Project Director Elma Mananes, in her welcome message, thanked the participants for attending the activity and proceeded to present the cluster updates highlighting the status of every component in terms of the physical and financial standing of subproject implementation and target completion of subprojects under the Original Loan (OL).

Based on her updates, under the I-PLAN component, a total of 33 value chain analyses (VCA) have been approved of which 30 were translated to commodity investment plans (CIPs).

Coffee topped the list of commodities that get the most support from PRDP subprojects followed by Aromatic/Pigmented Rice, Mango, Dairy, Onion, and more.
Under the rural infrastructure development (I-BUILD) component, 175 subprojects are approved with a total cost of 10.5 billion, wherein 144 SPs of which are worth 6.5 billion are completed, 12 SPs (1.49 billion) are ongoing, 6 SPs (1 billion) have No Objection Letter 2 (NOL2), and 12 SPs (1.26 billion) have NOL1.

As for the I-REAP or enterprise development component, a total of 330 SPs worth 842 million have already been delivered tantamount to 98% of the total funding under the OL, while 19 SPs worth 21 million, or 2%, are ongoing.

DPD Mananes reminded the regions to physically accomplish all subprojects under the OL and Additional Financing before this year ends to prevent them from getting lapsed.
Following the cluster updates were the presentation of disbursement status and financial accomplishment by PSO Financial Analyst III, Irene Cabrera.

Under the OL Php 696 million have been released from Php 702 million obligated, which is equivalent to 99% completion, whereas under the Additional Financing 2 (AF2), Php58 million have been released from 152.7 obligated funds, or 38%.

Afterward, the I-PLAN, I-BUILD, and I-REAP Components of PSO presented their respective updates, including their agreed actions from the previously concluded implementation support mission. The RPCOs’ I-BUILD and I-REAP Components also disclosed their targets for the third quarter and activities to be undertaken in the coming months.

The cluster assessment ended with the technical and project management discussion with PSO I-BUILD Component Head, Engr. Ernesto Pitok, presented matters on infrastructure implementation side, PSO FA III Irene Cabrera tackled the billing requirements for approving subprojects, PSO GIS Specialist, Jose Isagani Herrera, Jr., and PSO Safeguards and Environmental Safeguards (SES) Unit Head, Emmanuel Aragones, presented their unit’s common issues and concerns, and PSO Procurement Unit Head, Engr. Mary Ann Capillo, gave updates on the procurement status of some approved and ongoing subprojects in the cluster and addressed concerns raised by the participants.

Also present to show support for the assessment activity were the regional project directors of each RPCO. (Ericson M. Guiao, PSO North Luzon InfoACE)