The PRDP South Luzon wrapped up the fruitful year of 2018 and prepared for a challenging 2019 through a year-end assessment and management meeting held on December 18.

The PRDP South Luzon PSO Project Director Arnel De Mesa and Deputy Project Director Shandy Hubilla shared their overall positive remarks for the cluster’s 2018 performance and especially for getting “a job well done” during the recently concluded World Bank Mission.

They also challenged the Project team to continue the hard work for 2019. “Walang problema ang di malulutas kung tayo ay samasamang magtutulungan para sa ikabubuti ng ating proyekto (There is no problem we can’t face if we are united to achieve the goals of our Project),” Director De Mesa stated. Aside from unity, he also highlighted the importance of focus as the PRDP team fulfill their responsibilities.

Accelerating financial and physical progress of I-BUILD subprojects

Among the clusters, South Luzon’s I-BUILD component had the second highest disbursement rate at the end of the year. However, its financial progress has a gap with physical accomplishments. DPD Hubilla accentuated that in order to further accelerate the disbursement rate of 41%, the physical progress must catch up with the financials

To achieve this, the PSO and RPCOs were enjoined to prioritize site inspection of big ticket subprojects with unsettled concerns and intensify management meetings which have been proven effective in addressing Project matters. The rural infrastructure engineers were reminded to be proactive in supervising the subprojects and prioritize reviewing of SPs’ billing requests.

The subprojects for 2019 additional financing were also presented during the activity. Among the 18 subprojects, three of which were approved as of December 14 and the rest are being processed for issuance of No Objection Letter 1.

Translating CIPs to I-REAP enterprises

DPD Hubilla commended the big jump of I-REAP’s disbursement rate from 38% to 55% since the mid-year assessment, placing the cluster on second rank in projectwide disbursement performance as the year closes.

He also underscored that despite bagging the highest number of approved VCAs (35) across the clusters, South Luzon had the lowest number of approved I-REAP SPs in 2018.

“Let us put the VCAs and CIPs into good news,” DPD Hubilla expressed as he urged the I-PLAN and I-REAP components to increase number of enterprise subprojects that are responsive to the CIPs. The investment plans serve as the foundation or take-off points for PRDP that will support the cluster’s commodity value chains.

In 2019, the I-PLAN and I-REAP team will strengthen their collaboration through workshops and identify strategies to obtain more project proposals from local government units.

Strategies towards growth

Other strategies for smoother Project implementation were identified during the year-end activity. In particular, the cluster will fully utilize Disbursement Tracking System (DbTS), a monitoring tool that tracks the progress of subprojects prior to disbursements. This will be reinforced by conducting bi-monthly management meetings focusing on the disbursement performance of the cluster.

Likewise, South Luzon will continue fostering partnership with its finance counterparts in the LGUs through a clusterwide fiduciary review, a semi-annual assessment and meeting with the LGU accountants, P/C/MPMIU heads, and RPCO Finance Unit staff. It will serve as an avenue to align the LGUs’ financial management process with the standards of the PRDP, address clarifications, and reassess financial targets of subprojects.

DPD Hubilla closed the year-end activity by instilling values. “Most importantly, as we take on our PRDP responsibilities, we should practice the three C’s: consistency, commitment, and cooperation.”### (Rio Christine Bustamante, DA-PRDP South Luzon PSO InfoACE Unit