April 29, 2015

CARAMOAN, CAMARINES SUR – “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” -Vince Lombardi. That is the bottom line of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) South Luzon’s 1st Quarter Coordination Meeting hosted by Bicol on April 27-30, 2015 at Gota Village Resort in Caramoan, Camarines Sur.

The activity aims to create a harmonized cluster-wide activity for the next quarters of 2015 towards an effective and efficient PRDP implementation in the respective regions in South Luzon. It was participated by the regional coordinators, focal persons, component heads and staff of PRDP for South Luzon which include Regions IV-A (CALABARZON), IV-B (MIMAROPA) and V (Bicol).

At the said meeting, RPCO V presented the status of on-going value chain analysis as well as infrastructure and agro-industrial enterprise development sub-projects (SPs) for the first quarter of 2015. PRDP-Bicol also highlights its accomplishments particularly the issuance of No Objection Letter 2 (NOL 2) to two Infrastructure Development (I-BUILD) SPs in Libmanan and Pasacao, Camarines Sur with a total contract project cost worth P94,864,787.78.

PSO South Luzon Director Shandy M. Hubilla reminded the RPCOs that the Regional Project Advisory Council’s (RPAB) role is to evaluate the technical, financial, economic, social, and environmental viability of SPs. However, assurance of PRDP’s funding is dependent on the NOL 1 and NOL 2 issuances.

Critical issues and action plans per component from May to July 2015 were also discussed. To address the issue on inadequate staffing, South Luzon Procurement Officer Maria Rhoda Lavinia D. Mendoza asked the RPCOs to submit the ideal required staff for approval of the National Project Advisory Board (NPAB) not later than April 30, 2015. Meanwhile, PSO South Luzon will schedule a meeting with the NPCO Finance and Procurement team to resolve delayed fund releases. Moreover, Hubilla underscored the importance of output-driven activities and weekly progress reporting to achieve quarterly targets.

The 1st quarter NPCO-PSO-RPCO Coordination meeting was the cluster’s second convention after the 1st World Bank (WB) Supervision Mission to South Luzon Cluster also hosted by RPCO V last February 2-3, 2015. Hubilla stressed that the outcome of the 1st quarter coordination meeting will be very significant to the next WB Supervision Mission which will be held in Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) in August 2015.

“Bawat isa importante, pag may hindi nag-function na isa, damay ang lahat,” he remarked. (Annielyn L. Baleza, I-SUPPORT InfoACE Unit, DA-RAFIS 5)

RPCO V I-REAP Component Head Adelina A. Losa (center, in blue)
joins the action planning of the South Luzon I-REAP team during
the NPCO-PSO-RPCO 1st Quarter Coordination Meeting.

PRDP-Bicol Monitoring and Evaluation Unit Head Maribel O. Bitao presents RPCO V’s 1st Quarter Accomplishment Report.