Elementary students of San Antonio, Quezon now walk to school on cemented road and enjoy convenience of the PRDP subproject, “Concreting of San Jose–Del Valle FMR”, one of the sites visited during the seventh World Bank Mission to the PRDP South Luzon cluster.

World Bank lauds great progress of PRDP South Luzon

Date Published: January 28, 2019

The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) South Luzon cluster showcased its progress to the World Bank delegates during the seventh Implementation Support Mission to the PRDP South Luzon Cluster on November 26-29.

Douglas Forno, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Institutional Specialist and head of the delegates for the cluster, congratulated the PRDP South Luzon for a job well done. “You have done a remarkable job. What you have accomplished now is a reflection of your unity and synchronization,” he said.

For this run of Mission, the World Bank team together with the National Office, Project Support Office (PSO) of the cluster, and the Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) visited two provinces with the highest shares of agricultural land in CALABARZON Region: Quezon with 513,681 hectares and Batangas with 223,973 hectares. The said activity aimed to assess subprojects’ progress and gather stakeholders’ valuable inputs.

The World Bank team inspected two infrastructure development (I-BUILD) subprojects in the said provinces on November 27, the “Concreting of San Jose–Del Valle FMR” in San Antonio, Quezon and “Concreting of Farm to Market Road (FMR), Barangay Olo-olo, Mabilog na Bundok and Nagtaluntong (Phase I)” in Lobo, Batangas.

The team also held dialogue with the concerned project beneficiaries, local government units (LGUs), and other stakeholders of enterprise development (I-REAP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) subproject sites namely, “Seaweeds Production and Marketing in Calatagan, Batangas”, “Batangas Dairy Cattle Production”, and “Agdangan Seaweeds Farming and Culturing Project #1 and #2” on November 26 and 28.

Maintaining quality FMRs and engaging the residents
During the plenary on May 29, Raoul Azanza, Rural Infrastructure Engineer of the Bank credited the efforts of the cluster in implementing quality FMRs. He also emphasized the need to strengthen the monitoring of construction and to regularly conduct contract management meetings with the concerned stakeholders to ensure timely subproject implementation and avoid quality issues.

Likewise, Luningning Bondoc, World Bank Economist, recognized the positive feedback the team gathered during the site visit and consultation and highlighted to keep the active engagement of the road beneficiaries through citizen monitoring. “It is good to hear good feedback from the residents [along the FMR] and know the project really benefits them,” she said.

Ensuring sustainability of I-REAP enterprises
Forno extended his congratulations to the I-REAP team for their hard work in increasing the disbursement performance but more so in capacitating the subprojects’ proponent groups in operating PRDP enterprises.

“I have never come across any successful project in the world as this one. We need the LGUs to propose more I-REAP projects. We have to show other associations how to do it. That is really the reason why this project was formulated—not just to give money but to change the ways of how we do business here in the Philippines,” he stated.

During the plenary, the World Bank team enjoined the I-PLAN and I-REAP team, with close coordination with the LGUs, to collaborate and identify strategies to accommodate more inclusive enterprises and increase the component’s portfolio.

Forno also commended the GEF team in exerting effort to make its micro-enterprises catalytic. To further achieve this aim, he challenged the cluster to inspire more LGUs to create more projects patterned to GEF enterprises.

Key accomplishments of the cluster
The PRDP South Luzon PSO Deputy Project Director Shandy Hubilla proudly presented the key accomplishments of the cluster as of November 16. Compared with the last World Bank Mission in May 2018, the cluster increased its disbursement rate for I-BUILD subprojects from 28% to 41% and I-REAP subprojects from 30% to 53%. These achievements landed the South Luzon I-REAP component at rank one in the projectwide disbursement performance while second for the I-BUILD component.

Moreover, among the four clusters with approved Value Chain Analysis (VCA), the South Luzon tops the list with 35 VCAs which resulted to 18 CIPs. The cluster had also generated 2.32 billion of investments outside PRDP from the Memorandum of Understanding forged among different agencies.
At the end of the activity, the World Bank team encouraged the cluster to keep up the good work and expressed their anticipation for the next Implementation Support Mission to be held in Catanduanes, Bicol Region. ### (Rio Christine Bustamante, DA-PRDP South Luzon PSO InfoACE Unit)

PRDP South Luzon PSO Deputy Project Director Shandy Hubilla, alongside with CALABARZON RPCO Project Director Felix Ramos, PRDP South Luzon PSO Project Director Arnel De Mesa, Head of World Bank delegates Douglas Forno, and Regional Agricultural and Fishery Council Chairperson Pedrito Kalaw, proudly presents the progress of the cluster during the plenary of the seventh World Bank Mission on May 29.

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