As part of the aimed augmentation of the country’s agriculture and fishery sector through the Philippine Rural Development Program, the implementers and the World Bank are looking into the possible impact of the citizens’ active participation with the implementation.

With the ongoing constructions of approved PRDP subprojects, residents from influence barangays are given a vital part in the success of the respective road rehabilitations in their areas.

In a gathering of Project Support Offices last November 3, PRDP National Deputy Project Director Arnel de Mesa stated that they should take the opportunity to expound on the significance of citizens’ monitoring while there are still few subprojects. He added that the participation of the involved residents is beneficial not only for the sake of monitoring and evaluation, but also to ensure the quality of the roads to be sustained for 20 years.

“The more involved people there are, the lesser the acts of deceiving there will be,” he added.

Citizens are expected to monitor the implementation in terms of the efficiency and sustainability of invested resources on local assets. This is essential in achieving subprojects’ target progress in accordance to the prescribed designs, standards and timeline.

“Due to the simultaneous constructions of subprojects throughout the clusters, our engineers cannot be present at the sites all the time. This is where progress monitoring by citizens takes place,” said World Bank Procurement Specialist Noel Sta. Ines.

He emphasized how Geotagging can serve as the eye of the monitoring team in validating the status of the simultaneous implementations. Geotagging, in essence, is a virtual monitoring tool that allows supervision of projects through real-time photos embedded on a map.

Furthermore, Sta. Ines said that one of their goals is to get students involved in the process, particularly Engineering and Accountancy students.

“We want them to them to be exposed to their social responsibilities. We are particular on what the citizens can contribute for the further success of the Project,” he added.

PRDP North Luzon currently has five subprojects with ongoing construction. A farm-to-market road in Mallig, Isabela now has 40% accomplishment, while the Cabagan and Tumauini FMR has 57% accomplishment. Similar subprojects in Quirino, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija are also ongoing with less than 50% completion as of November 26, 2015. (Kayla Arceo, PSO InfoACE)