The Construction of Maruyugon – Buenavista Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) is the second FMR-type intervention that will be implemented by the City Government of Puerto Princesa through the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) under the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Its estimated cost is P136.34 million, with a length of 6.5 kilometers and a road influence area comprising of the three barangays of Maruyugon, Lucbuan, and Buenavista.

On December 18 to 20, 2019, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Unit of the PRDP facilitated the training on the use of the Citizen Monitoring Tool (CMT) for the said FMR, focusing primarily on the instruments developed by the PRDP to ensure the good quality of its interventions through the effective participation of its beneficiaries.

These included representatives from each of the three barangays – chairpersons, councilors, traders, farmers, and residents which will form the Community Monitoring Team, members of the city government, and the contractor company.

“We in the M&E Unit, as I have said, have been present in the beginning of the project and will still be present during the construction and until the completion of your subproject. Even after how many years, we will still come back because we need to evaluate your subproject and do impact assessment. This is only the beginning,” said PRDP MIMAROPA M&E Unit Head Engr. Josephine De Sales.

Accordingly, the purpose of the training was to capacitate those who will be the end-users of the subproject in better observing and monitoring the progress of its completion and knowledgeably reporting their findings to the local government as the project management and implementing unit.

In one of the presentations, the Social and Environmental Safeguards Unit emphasized activities during construction period that should be looked out for especially those that can affect the environment and community. The Geomapping and Governance Unit, meanwhile, introduced the use of the PRDP Camera, a smartphone application, to capture geotagged photos as a form of providing real-time documentation of activities happening in the FMR.

Most importantly, the I-BUILD Component mapped out the basic infrastructure standards, focusing on the elements of quality assurance as basis of the CMT’s guide questions formulated to help the beneficiaries identify proper aspects of the implementation of their subproject.

From the City Engineering Office, Engr. Art Caabay appreciated in particular these guide questions printed in monitoring forms and distributed to the residents, noting that “it is easily understood by its readers, which means that not only we but also they can help in monitoring this subproject.”

“Finally, the moment has come that this project will be opened for us, particularly for the three barangays. We are very thankful and we give all our support, from all of us in the barangay, to do what needs to be done for the completion of this FMR,” said Barangay Buenavista Chairperson Juanito Capin.

Overall, the CMT gives any individual who passes through the Maruyugon – Buenavista FMR the power to voice their concerns by applying their learnings in the training and providing feedback from their observations.

However, it has been emphasized especially by the PRDP that as members of the monitoring team, they will not police every activity during the construction period but rather act as partners of the local government and contractor company. – Leira Vic Colongon, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit

Residents from the barangays of Maruyugon, Lucbuan, and Buenavista discuss Social and Environmental Safeguards with the technical staff of the PRDP MIMAROPA, particularly the trees that may be affected during the construction of their farm-to-market road.

Nunilo Dela Torre, a resident of Barangay Maruyugon who previously worked in a construction company, shares what he learned about farm-to-market roads and other infrastructure standards discussed by the I-BUILD Component during the training.