Three different towns from Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon will soon have new subprojects from the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) as these provinces’ proposals got the nod of the Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) on April 22, 2019.

“This RPAB meeting is in line with the incoming mission of the World Bank. I hope that after getting the approval, you will continue your effort up to completion stage,” Department of Agriculture CALABARZON Regional Executive Director and PRDP Project Support Office South Luzon Project Director, Engr. Arnel de Mesa, said.

For the Rizal province, the municipal government of Morong received RPAB’s approval for its 6.4-kilometer farm-to-market road (FMR) from Sitio Pugala to Yapak, Lagundi. The P96.19 million road will benefit 12,665 individuals within its road influence area.

The project can also help motivate more people to do agriculture as there are at least 1,062 hectares of potential agricultural area in the town, especially, an emerging growth area in Morong currently sees influx of at least 3,000 families from Quezon City.

The Mauban municipal government of Quezon province got a green light for its Level II Potable Water System (PWS) subproject. As the first PWS subproject in the province, it will serve nine barangays at the southern portion of the town that are not being served by its water district.

The P92.69 million subproject will allow the local government to replace its current system of water rationing called Handog Patubig which costs them P0.5 million annually. A total of 3,582 households are expected to benefit from the subproject as well as numerous farms, and rice and oil milling stations.

On the other hand, the local government of Taysan, Batangas returned to the board for the change in the design of their previously approved FMR subproject due to financial issues. The new design involves a bridge construction and a reduction on the total length of the proposed road.

Around 1,112 households of the barangays Sto. Niño and Piñas are projected to benefit from the proposal through reduced travel time to the town proper from 45 minutes to 25 minutes.

With these new proposals, all provinces in CALABARZON already have RPAB-approved subprojects. The Quezon province has infrastructure (I-BUILD), enterprise (I-REAP), and Global Environment Facilities (GEF) subprojects. The provinces of Batangas and Laguna both have I-BUILD and I-REAP subprojects. Cavite province has an I-REAP subproject while Rizal has this new I-BUILD subproject proposal.

Director de Mesa acted as the Chairperson of the board with Regional Agricultural and Fishery Council IV-A Chairperson Pedrito Kalaw as the Vice-Chairperson. Also present in the RPAB meeting were representatives from different government agencies of the region which include Engr. Melquiades Sto. Domingo of Department of Public Works and Highways, Maribeth Ramos of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Maria Villa Panganiban of Department of Agrarian Reform, and Teresita Gonzaga of the Department of Trade and Industry. ### (Lawrence Albert Bariring, DA-PRDP CALABARZON RPCO InfoACE Unit)

Mayor Grande Gutierrez of Taysan, Batangas presented the redesigned farm-to-market road proposal from his municipality. This is one of the three new infrastructure subprojects to be approved by the Board.