The Cordillera Adminstrative Region (CAR) has jacked up its fund sharing for the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) infrastructure projects as of October 2016, having submitted the most number of subprojects thereby topping the percentage share among regions of the Luzon A Cluster composed of Regions I, II, III and CAR.

This was announced by Dr. Andrew Villacorta, Project Director for PRDP Luzon A Cluster, during the kick off meeting for the 3rd World Bank Implementation Support Mission held in the province of Kalinga on November 14-16, 2016.

Of the 199 total infrastructure subprojects for PRDP Luzon A Cluster as of press time, the Cordillera region was able to increase the total number of subprojectsapproved from 29 in April 2016 to 62 in October 2016.

According to Villacorta, CAR has the biggest ‘slice of the pie’, having increased  its number of infra project cost from P3.5 billion to P4.96 billion, likewise increasing its share of the overall portfolio for the cluster to  41%.

“While the CAR has a share of 41% of the infrastrucure portfolio for the cluster, the share of Region I is 15%, Region II is 22% and Region III, 22%,” Villacorta added.

Breaking it down per province, the latest number of subprojects approved with its corresponding share in the portfolio are as follows:  Abra, 10 subprojects with a 15% share; Apayao with 10 (8%), Benguet with15 (15%), Ifugao with 9 (14%), Kalinga having the biggest share with 13 (29.4%) and Mountain Province with 5 (9%).

Giving credit where credit is due, Dr. Villacorta lauded all those involved in the packaging of the subprojects, with special mention to Engr. Domingo Bakilan, head of the Provincial Project Management Implementation Unit (PPMIU) of Kalinga Province, for being able to succesfully lead the provincial staff in packaging infrastructure projects to be funded under the DA-PRDP.

RPCO-CAR Project Director Dr. Lorenzo Caranguian lauded the beneficiaries of the farm-to-market roads in Kalinga saying that without their cooperation, the subproject processing would not have been expedited.

As per Cluster A reports, there is a major growth in the Project’s accomplishments that led the way to the milestones of the cluster. Also, being the top grosser in terms of subproject cost and number of subprojects approved, the CAR has greatly contributed to this growth.

The infrastructure component of the DA-PRDP falls under the Intensified Building Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development (I-BUILD) which aims to develop a strategic network of climate-resilient rural infrastructure and facilities supportive of the value chain in the Project Areas, to help achieve one of the Project’s goals to increase the number of farms and fisheries with improved access to DA services by 20% at the end of the 6-year PRDP project.  (Mabel Zabala, CARPCO InfoACE Unit)