The Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) of the Central Luzon Regional Development Council (RDC III) conducted site visits on two subprojects funded under Philippine Rural Development Project in the province of Bulacan on June 29, 2018.

RPMC, the project monitoring arm of the RDC III is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of priority programs and projects implemented in the region, particularly subprojects with implementation bottlenecks and subprojects worthy for replication.

The activity was participated by members and representatives from various agencies such as the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Office of the President-Presidential Management Staff (OP-PMS), and Private Sector Representatives (PSR) on Education, Agri-Forestry and Mining and Development Communication.

Mr. Ronel Caña from the Provincial Project Management Implementing Unit (PPMIU) I-BUILD presented the subprojects to be visited in the municipality of San Ildefonso – the two completed subprojects “Improvement of Bubulong Malake – Bulusukan – Bubulong Munti – Bohol na Mangga Farm to Market Road” and “Construction of Triple B Charatin Processing Center” and the ongoing enterprise subproject Triple B Charantin with 89.63% physical accomplishment.

After the site visit, a meeting was conducted and attended by representatives from the Bulusukan Farmers Palay and Vegetable Producers Cooperative, Bukal Farmers Producers Cooperative and Buhol na Mangga Marketing Cooperative. Said cooperatives will be the proponents of the Triple B Charantin Enterprise.

Ms. Consuelo Tessa M. Sibal from NEDA explained the purpose of the RPMC visit – which is to monitor the completed and ongoing projects of the government.

“The DA-PRDP Regional Project Coordinating Office III (RPCO3) is sending quarterly status and accomplishments  reports of all the approved subprojects within the region 3 and we try to visit them to validate the reports. We see that the infrastructure and enterprise development subprojects were already completed. We are sure that the FMR is now being used by the community,” said Sibal to the beneficiaries of the subprojects, who expressed positive remarks about the project.

Sibal added that the farmers’ income and benefits will even more increase once the enterprise development subproject becomes fully operational. Currently, water and electricity is not yet available in the processing center, and requests to the Provincial and Municipal Local Government Unit as well as to MERALCO are still pending.

When asked whether the cooperatives conduct soil analysis before planting Ampalaya, Bukal Farmers Producers Cooperative Chairman Ferdinand Santos shared that they are using new techniques, wherein they combine patola and Ampalaya.

He added, “I plant Ampalaya continuously. As farmers, we can already identify if the land can produce good quality of harvest, based on experienced analysis.” (Maria Cristina M. Domenden, RPCO3 M&E Unit)