The Department of Agriculture Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) Mindanao Cluster garnered multiple awards and recognitions at the recently held Operational Management Group meeting at the BSWM Convention Hall in Quezon City last January 16, 2020. OIC National Deputy Project Director  Shandy Hubilla led the awarding ceremonies which was attended by representatives of PRDP NPCO, PSO’s and RPCO’s and graced by Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar.

Mindanao led the way in two cluster awards claiming the cluster award for highest share in CY 2019 Disbursement for the I-BUILD component with 37% of the total disbursements for CY 2019, and also the cluster award as rank 1 in I-BUILD Subproject Completion in Share-to-Total SP’s Completed at 46%.

I-BUILD PSO Head Engr. Ma. Fe Gabunales shared the achievement and recognition with the whole of the Mindanao Cluster saying that this is a win for the whole group and not just the infrastructure component of PRDP Mindanao.

Aside from the two cluster awards, the PRDP Mindanao Cluster also earned regional awards for the achievements of their Regional Project Coordination Offices.

Region 11 was awarded the Regional Awardee for Highest Share in CY 2019 Disbursements with an 11% share of the total disbursements in CY 2019. The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao or BARMM together with Region 9 were both recognized as Regional Awardees for Rank 1 in I-BUILD Subproject Completion Efficiency Rate. And last but not the least, Region 12 was awarded Rank 1 in Share-to-Total Subprojects completed.

DA-RFO XII Regional Executive Director Milagros Casis had this to say regarding their award: “We are very elated with what we accomplished last year. As a regional awardee, who surpassed the 2019 Subproject Financing Disbursement Target, the Regional Project Coordination Office XII will surely work hard this year to outdo this recent achievement.”

Newly installed DA IX Regional Executive Director Rad Donn Cedeño also acknowledged the effort their team put in for the recognition. “Congratulations to the men and women of DA-PRDP-RPCO IX for garnering Top 5 in the 2019 I-BUILD and I-REAP Financing Disbursement Target subprojects with a total of Php 240M out of Php 210M target. We take this 113% accomplishment as a challenge to do more as it is our mandate to serve the farmers and fisherfolk in Zamboanga Peninsula,” Cedeño said.

Deputy Project Director of PRDP Project Support Office Mindanao (PSO Mindanao) Engr. Danilo Alesna said that the awards and recognition the cluster received are validation of the work the Mindanao Team puts in to uplifting the lives of farmers and fisherfolk in rural communities in Mindanao. “What the Mindanao Cluster achieved last year are only possible because of the hard work of everyone from the PSO to the different RPCO’s and will be the cluster’s motivation to do more for 2020,” said Alesna. “There is still a lot of work to be done and with everyone’s cooperation, we can achieve even more this year.”