For the first time since the nationwide roll-out, the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) gathered all component and unit heads and key personnel from the national, cluster and regional offices in a coordination meeting and action planning workshop last February 5-9 in Angeles, Pampanga.

The meeting centered on discussions on planning and budgeting for the current year in preparation for the project expansion for infrastructure subprojects. Comprehensive workshops were held per component, unit, and cluster to come up with a Work and Financial Plan that maximizes the financial resources of the Project.

“PRDP has been continuously delivering honor to the Department of Agriculture,” said DA Undersecretary for Operations and PRDP National Project Director Ariel Cayanan, who reported positive feedback from the World Bank Review Mission exit conference with Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

He proudly shared how this feedback is attributed to the Project’s guidelines, procedures, manner of accepting proposals and issuance of approvals.

“However, there are a lot of challenges and some of them are the policies implemented by the government,” he added. Cayanan pertained to the implementation of the Budget Reform Bill which was further discussed by Ms. Loida Wy from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“Policies are policies, laws are laws. When the archer misses the target, the target will not be adjusted; the archer will adjust himself,” said the Undersecretary.

Further, he encouraged all staff under PRDP to take the sudden policy change as a challenge that will be converted into an opportunity. “This is an opportunity for us to become more efficient and effective, and to challenge ourselves beyond our working conditions.”

PRDP is now on its fourth official year of implementation, and the Project implementers and technical staff are expected to closely monitor recommendations from the previous midterm review mission.

As presented by PRDP National Deputy Project Director Cirilo Namoc, all provinces in the country have their approved Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIPs). For the North Luzon cluster level, ten of these PCIPs are already updated, eight are currently being updated, and four are yet to be updated.

Engr. Namoc added that nationwide, there are now 396 approved infrastructure subprojects – 72 of these are completed, 197 are under implementation and 127 are under procurement.

For the enterprise component, there are 573 approved enterprises nationwide – 149 are completed, 153 are under implementation and 271 are under procurement.

He likewise discussed the status of the loan utilization, reverted allotment, updates on the Project’s additional financing as well as strategies and challenges for the current year.

PRDP is a special project designed to establish the government platform for a modern, climate-smart and market-oriented agri-fishery sector. (Kayla Arceo, PSO InfoACE)