“Kalinga Shines” is the battle cry of the northernmost province in the Cordillera Region, and it shines even more brightly as it raises its flag as the top implementer of sub-projects funded under the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) in CAR.

Piloting the infrastructure project under the Intensified Building-Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development (I-BUILD)  Component as well as the  enterprise project under the Investments for Rural Enterprises and Agricultural and Fisheries Productivity (I-REAP) component,  Kalinga  province was able to have proposed Php1.4 billion peso worth of sub-project proposals (SPPs) under 2015 and 2016 funding, equating to 33% of the aggregate total amount of SPPs in the region which reached Php4,460,033,538.40.

This contributed to the ranking of the Cordillera Region as 2nd in the whole Luzon A Cluster as a performer in fund utilization, according to Deputy Project Director Arnel de Mesa of the National Project Coordinating Office.

As gleaned from reports presented during the 2nd World Bank Implementation Mission held recently at Clarkfield, Pampanga, Kalinga province leads all other CAR provinces in terms of implementation.

The region’s I-BUILD portfolio shows that Kalinga tops the number of sub-project distribution by province.  Out of 35 total sub-project proposals (SPPs) in the region, Kalinga was able to top the charts in terms of number of  SPPs for having submitted 13 SPPs, followed by Abra with 11 SPPs, Benguet with 8, Mountain Province with 5, Ifugao with 3, and Apayao, 2.

Under the I-REAP portfolio, the “shining” province also boasts of being the first and only province to have received a “go signal” from the World Bank consultants to implement further a pilot enterpise in Luzon Cluster A which is the “Kalinga Integrated Coffee Processing and Marketing Enterprise”.

“Other regions will have to seek approval from the National Project Coordinating Office instead of from the World Bank.  This world-bank approved enterprise shall serve as a model for succeeding enterprises under the cluster”, said Engr. Danilo Daguio, Deputy Project Director of RPCO-CAR.

Out of the above mentioned portfolios, Kalinga ties with Mountain Province in terms of number of approved SPPs, totalling to 4 each, but still Kalinga shines over Mountain Province because the former has had two of its SPPs OK’d to continue with the implementation of their proposed projects.  The construction of these two pilot infrastructure sub-projects in CAR is currently being implemented in Tanudan and Tabuk City, Kalinga.

Kalinga still tops the number of SPPs in the pipeline, having 9 SPPs in progress, followed by Benguet with 5, Abra with 4, Apayao and Ifugao with 2 each and Mountain Province with 1.

According to Engr. Domingo A. Bakilan, Provincial Agriculturist and Head of the PPMIU in Kalinga, the province might yet again be piloting the subprojects under the next priority commodity in line which is the traditional/pigmented rice.  “We will soon start with the formulation of business plan for this commodity in our province”, Bakilan reported.

When asked what their secret is for being the top implementer of PRDP projects in CAR, Engr. Bakilan said, ” Among the  ingredients in the tedious processes we had to go through implementing PRDP projects  is first to acquire  the blessings of our provincial governor for his support. Then we work in close coordination with the RPCO, PSO and NPCO.  Of course, personal sacrifices are part of the secret, but the most important thing is to never give up, and keep believing”, he said. (Mabel Zabala, DA- PRDP RPCO-CAR InfoACE Unit)

A portion of the Bulanao-Amlao FMR FMR subproject in Tabuk City, Kalinga (Photo taken on April 28, 2016)