Date Published: May 12, 2023

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO-BARMM) held an orientation on the PRDP Scale-Up cum Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) updating for the Province of Basilan on May 8-10, 2023 at City Inn Hotel.

This activity facilitated by the I-PLAN and other RPCO-BARMM components aimed to establish a government platform for a modern, climate-smart, and market-oriented Agri-fishery sector with an estimated project duration of five years (2024-2028).

PRDP Scale-Up is an expansion of the original project in response to the government’s goal of transforming the agri-fishery sectors to be more competitive, sustainable, and technologically based to contribute to growth and poverty reduction.

The orientation was attended by representatives and officials from 11 municipalities of Basilan and MAFAR Provincial office.

Muhammad Ajul Municipal Mayor Hon. Talib Pawaki expressed his gratitude to MAFAR-PRDP for inviting them and expressed his interest to avail subprojects from PRDP.

Since it was the first time that the municipalities were invited to PRDP activities, the LGUs showed their enthusiastic participation as they view the project as a window to the development of the municipalities in particular and Basilan Province in general.

The three-day activity focused on the strategic directions of the project, its development objectives, target beneficiaries, as well as the different components and units within PRDP.

Workshop on the updating of the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) was also conducted as it would set the direction in the attainment of the approval of the subproject proposals for I-BUILD and I-REAP for the upcoming implementation of PRDP Scale-Up.

The Updating PCIP will identify the priority commodities for investment based on their potential for growth and development. These commodities could vary based on several factors such as market demand, local production capacity, and available resources.

Moreover, MAFAR Provincial Director Hannie Muadz Junuban also showed his full support for the activity and urged the municipalities of Basilan to avail of SPs from PRDP.

“I am very happy that the MAFAR Basilan was invited to this activity since BARMM has a different structure from the PRDP, where in the PRDP subprojects, the entry point is the province. Thus, this activity will strengthen the relationship between MAFAR and PLGU Basilan,” said PD Junuban. (via Naima Mamisel, PRCO BARMM)