The Project Support Office (PSO) and Regional Project Coordination Offices (RPCO’s) of DA-PRDP’s Mindanao Cluster gathered together for the second PSO-RPCO Coordination Meeting for 2021 earlier today. The meeting which was conducted virtually, was led by PSO Mindanao’s Project Director Engr. Ricardo Oñate and Deputy Project Director Noel T. Provido along with the different component and unit heads and staff of the support office.

Due to travel restrictions brought about by the continued threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the PSO-RPCO coordination meeting was conducted online for the second time this year.

The primary agenda for the activity was to assess the performance of the Cluster for the past six months and to get ready for the mid-year review by the National Project Coordinating Office (NPCO) and the World Bank in the upcoming 12^th World Bank Implementation Support Mission to PRDP which will kick off on May 24, 2021.

Director Oñate in his opening message, acknowledged that the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have become “lessons learned” for the Cluster in finding new ways of implementing their projects.

“I believe that in each crisis, there is also a seed for change that will give us a harvest of innovation that will ultimately allow us to do more than when we first started this Project,” Onate said. “Our use of online and digital platforms has allowed us to stay connected and informed during these trying times. With everyone’s help and with the right strategies in place, we have learned to rise above the storm.”

PSO Mindanao Deputy Project Director Noel T. Provido started off the meetings series of discussions by presenting the rationale of the activity.

Deputy Director Noel Provido added that after more than a year of operating under quarantine restrictions and border controls, there is a need to make time for reflection and change.

“This is a meeting to celebrate resiliency and innovation,” said Provido. “Though we may just be connected virtually, we continue to be actively engaged.”

Monitoring and Evaluation Unit Head Joseph Rico presenting the draft cluster presentation for the upcoming 12th World Bank Implementation Support Mission.

Monitoring and Evaluation head Joseph Rico presented a draft cluster presentation for the upcoming World Bank review to confirm and allow for corrections to the final report from the RPCO’s. This was followed by presentations on the implementation of the infrastructure and enterprise subprojects by the IBUILD Head Engr. Ma Fe Gabunales and IREAP Head Ronnie Yulo to address gaps and solicit strategies to get lagging subprojects up to speed. A particular emphasis was placed on the discussion of catch-up plans for subprojects whose validity will lapse within the year and get the commitment from the RPCO’s for their completion.

IBUILD head Engr. Ma Fe Gabunales presenting status of infrastructure subproject implementation.

On the financial side, Economist Imma Camile Requilme gave an update on the preparations for the EU grant and the second additional financing while Finance Unit OIC Christian Hernandez gave a run down of the current financial status of the cluster as well as outline measures for austerity while waiting for the estimated arrival of these additional funds by October.

Finance Unit OIC Christian Hernandez.

On the planning side, I-PLAN Unit Head Cerenio Tila presented the findings on the enhanced IPLAN manual which sought to integrate climate resilience and biodiversity measures.

I-PLAN head Cerenio Tila.

The meeting ended with agreements from the RPCO’s and the PSO regarding the next steps to be taken as ways forward for the Cluster which include addressing high slippage of subprojects particularly in BARMM; maximize the use of monitoring tools such as the MIS to provide updated data to keep everyone in Cluster on the same page especially with overdue subprojects; and to conduct Operations Maintenance Audit Systems (OMAS) assessments for additional 28 subprojects prior to the upcoming 12th WB Mission. (Joseph John Palarca | PSO Mindanao)