The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) South Luzon Project Support Office (PSO) convened its regional counterparts on July 29-30 for the cluster’s Second Quarter Assessment and Third Quarter Planning Workshop.

The activity aims to review performance during the second quarter and set strategies to hit targets for the third quarter as well as identify gaps and challenges that hamper their functions.

In his opening message, PRDP South Luzon PSO Project Director, Engr. Arnel de Mesa, challenged the participants to explore and search for new approaches that will help improve the cluster’s processes.

Improve monitoring of I-BUILD subprojects

The PSO Deputy Project Director, Shandy M. Hubilla, presented the status of the infrastructure development (I-BUILD) component across the cluster and he reported that South Luzon ranked lowest in terms of physical and financial progress.

To effectively supervise the subprojects and ensure its development, the engineers from PSO and regions should be in the field more often and closely coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) and contractors and assist them in the preparation of their billing requirements.

As of July 25, there are 55 approved I-BUILD subprojects in the cluster. Nine of which are with No Objection Letter (NOL) 1, two are with NOL 2, 22 are under implementation, and 22 were completed.

Increase in number of I-REAP subproject

Despite bagging the highest approved Value Chain Analaysis (38) among the four clusters, the enterprise development (I-REAP) component of South Luzon still has small total numbers of subproject.

Director Hubilla then urged the I-PLAN and I-REAP components to work closely and strengthen their collaboration through conducting necessary activities to obtain more project proposals from the LGUs.

Moreover, it was observed that there are no movements for the I-REAP component in terms of disbursement since the Eighth Review Mission in May 2019. Hubilla highlighted that even a peso or centavo should be reflected in the financial progress as this can also contribute to the cluster’s accomplishment.

The I-REAP component has 27 completed subprojects, 33 are under implementation, and 7 are with NOL 1, as of July 25.

Reset targets to accomplish more outputs.

During the workshop, Directors de Mesa and Hubilla instructed the I-BUILD and I-REAP staff to carefully review and analyze each subproject that they are overseeing and reset their physical and financial targets for August to October, individually per subproject.

The Directors also encouraged the participants to arrive at clear and measurable targets to prevent recurring problems. The workshop aims to ensure smooth-sailing implementation of subprojects as well as to harmonize the cluster’s work and financial plan.

The participants were also challenged to take note of their given timeline to meet targets and implement projects as programmed.

Closing the activity, the Directors expressed their appreciation to the team as they are still committed to delivering for the Project.

“We are hoping na pagdating ng Mission, hindi man tayo nasa taas, mararamdaman nila na mas matatag tayo (We are hoping that on the next Mission, we might not be on the top, at least, they [delegates and other clusters] will feel that our cluster is firm),” said Director de Mesa.

PSO Project Director, Engr. Arnel de Mesa, delivers his opening message to welcome the participants of the activity. (Photo by Ana Francesca Chavez)

Led by Directors de Mesa and Hubilla, I-BUILD PSO and regional rural infrastructure engineers set agreements during the workshop to improve the physical and financial performance of the component. (Photo by Ana Francesca Chavez)

### (Lea Caliuag, DA-PRDP South Luzon PSO InfoACE Unit)