“I just want to first congratulate the cluster. I think you really worked very hard and it shows in your project progress.”

That was the message of Frauke Jungbluth, World Bank Task Team Leader and Lead Agriculture Economist, during the kick-off meeting of the Bank’s 3^rd Implementation Support Mission to the PRDP South Luzon Cluster on November 17.

The Bank’s recent mission generally aimed to review the Project’s progress in achieving its development objectives and to follow up on the agreed actions during the two previous missions.

I-PLAN’s trailblazing activities

PRDP South Luzon Project Support Office (PSO) Director Shandy Hubilla shared that the Cluster’s local and national level planning (I-PLAN) component is on top of the leaderboard among the other clusters in terms of value chain analysis (VCA) approval.

Through constant trainings and workshops, the PRDP staff at the Regional Project Coordination Offices (RPCOs) and stakeholders at the local government units (LGUs) are equipped with the needed know-how in the preparation of VCAs and Provincial Commodity Investment Plans (PCIPs).

The South Luzon’s I-PLAN component also pioneers among other clusters in terms of mainstreaming PCIPs in the plans and budgets of national and regional government line agencies.

During its mainstreaming workshop and investment forum held in October, investments worth more than P897 million were initially pledged by the representatives of various agencies to support the development of the Cluster’s priority commodity value chains.

I-BUILD’s well done FMRs

“I would just like to congratulate the PPMIU, RPCO and the PSO for a very well done job,” World Bank Rural Infrastructure Engineer Raoul Azanza stated during the mission’s exit conference.

Engr. Azanza was part of the inspection team composed of the representatives from the World Bank mission team, National Project Coordination Office (NPCO), PSO, and the MIMAROPA RPCO who visited the infrastructure development (I-BUILD) subprojects in Oriental Mindoro.

The said team visited the “Concreting of Bagong Silang–Macatoc Farm-to-Market Road (FMR),” which is the first completed FMR in the Cluster, and the “Rehabilitation/Upgrading of Dulangan I to Dulangan II FMR,” which has more than 50 percent physical progress.

The Oriental Mindoro LGU represented by Provincial Administrator Nelson Melgar stated, “Words will not be enough to express our sincerest thanks.”

World Bank Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist Jonas Bautista (center, in red) facilitates the consultation with the residents of Brgy. Bagong Silang in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro. (Photo by Leira Vic Colongon)

I-REAP’s move forward

Jungbluth expressed her appreciation of the Cluster’s progress status and report on the dry-run operations of the enterprise development (I-REAP) subprojects.

“I really like that approach on how to make more I-REAP projects that will move forward and you will pay attention to these results and impacts,” she said.

Hubilla reported the updates on the “Oriental Mindoro Calamansi Trading Center,” which has increased the selling price of calamansi in the province to P15 and benefited 326 farmers since its implementation in 2013.

During the mission, the World Bank team also visited the I-REAP subprojects in Quezon Province such as the “Processing and Marketing of Virgin Coconut Oil” with an estimated cost of P75 million and the “Guyabano Puree Processing” worth P0.82 million.

Members of MAPROTAS, the proponent group of the Guyabano Puree Processing enterprise subproject, pose with the World Bank and PRDP team after the subproject presentation and consultation.

South Luzon Cluster’s next steps

Director Hubilla shared the PSO’s plans for the next months such as going back to the roots of PRDP by aggressively marketing I-REAP across LGUs. He added that the PCIPs should serve as the main reference materials for enterprise development subprojects.

More LGUs will also be encouraged to avail of other rural infrastructure that is critical to the commodity value chain.

The Director also announced that the Cluster intends to facilitate faster subproject approval and implementation by increasing the number of procurement staff at all levels.

By January 2017, all components and units of the Cluster will have to re-strategize and focus on output-driven activities that will aid the Project in achieving its development objectives. ### (Gumamela Celes Bejarin, DA-PRDP South Luzon PSO InfoACE Unit)