Tuguegarao City, Cagayan – The Regional Program Advisory Board (RPAB) – Region 02 had recently endorsed infrastructure projects for funding under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).

According to Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office No. 02 (DA-RFO 02) Regional Executive Director and RPAB Chair Lucrecio R. Alviar, Jr., five (5) I-BUILD sub-projects were approved and favorably endorsed, consisting of four (4) farm-to-market roads in the province of Quirino and one in the province of Cagayan.

“This is a good start for the year for us because the total amount involved is Five Hundred Five Million, Sixty-One Thousand Two Hundred Five Pesos and Forty Centavos (P505,061,205.40) to be exact. These road networks are essential and supportive to the implementation of the various I-REAP subprojects proposed by the participating local government units,” he added.

Alviar said that minor comments raised by the RPAB should not pose as a problem to the referral of these projects to the Program Support Office (PSO). “We have advised the proponents to immediately revise their proposals prior to their transmittal.”

He also challenged the other provinces and cities who have proposals to complete the requirements and to submit immediately the documents so that the Board can schedule the deliberations.

The executive director also reported that in 2014, RPAB R-02 has also endorsed the same kind of infra projects that received a No Objection Letter 1 (NOL 1) from the NPCO.

“Public bidding to be conducted by the concerned local government unit (LGU) is on-going. We hope that the procurement process will be successful so we can start project implementation after the issuance of NOL 2 by the NPCO and World Bank,” he said.

Alviar likewise informed the body of the sub-projects endorsed by RPAB under the I-Reap component for CY 2014 to include coffee and dairy enterprises proposed by Cagayan, Isabela and Quirino provinces. “We are awaiting the NOL 1 for these enterprises with a total project cost of over sixty two million pesos.”

He added that Region 02 had the lion’s share in the budget of the Luzon A Cluster for infrastructure projects last year. “Of the almost nine hundred million approved budget, forty two percent was programmed for the region.”

Meanwhile, Governor Junie E. Cua of Quirino who personally attended the deliberations had expressed his appreciation to the RPAB for the immediate endorsement.

“What I like most for PRDP is not the funding but the good processes being observed. The project requires us to make things right from start to finish,” Cua commented.

The Province of Quirino got the biggest share of the total allocation for Region 02 for I-Build projects last year. Of the total Three Hundred Seventy Two Million and Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P372,500,000.00) approved proposals, they got around forty percent (42%) of the fund.

The Provincial Local Government of Cagayan ranked second with thirty one percent (31%) and Isabela twenty seven percent (27%).

“We are lucky to embrace this funding from the PRDP,” said Cagayan Provincial Agriculturist and Provincial Program Management Implementing Units (PPMIU) Head Mildred Abella. “This is a big help to the Cagayanos whose lives are dependent on farming.”

To ensure that Region 02 shall again perform this year, the Regional Program Coordinating Office (RPCO) 02 also met with the different PPMIU right after the RPAB meeting.

According to Dr. Lorenzo M. Caranguian, Regional Technical Director of DA-RFO 02 and PRDP Focal Person, the group has discussed the guidelines and strategies on how to fast track the submission of the needed requirements before a project is endorsed by RPAB.

“What we need is an open communication and we can only achieve this if we continue to meet regularly and be informed of the policies set by the World Bank that are critical in the smooth implementation of the PRDP,” he said.  (Jaycee Capalungan)