1st Quarterly Newsletter January to March 2021

Doing farm business

in San Remigio, Cebu
now made easy with

new FMR

Story on page 4

’’STRAIGHT TALK

Over the years, the implementation of the Philippine Rural
Development Project (PRDP) in Central Visayas zeroed at bridging more
proponent groups (PGs), partnering with able municipalities/ cities,
extending technical services and installation of various infrastructure
facilities essential to the agriculture sector.
To date, the Department takes pride of having engaged 25
municipalities and cities regionwide that were able to access services
likewise utilized the PRDP funding for enterprise management,
facilities, expansion and growth.
This year (2021) we look forward to the continuing challenge of
bringing PRDP and its services to farming communities that have yet to
experience the opportunities that comes along with the project. Our
efforts now are driven towards prioritizing other infrastructure like
FMR with bridges, Potable Water System (PWS), Warehouses, Dressing
plants, Solar Dryer, among others.
With the able men and women of PRDP RPCO 7 and a renewed hope,
we pour our heart out to materializing the vision and goals of PRDP.

Atty. Salvador D. Diputado LLM. Ph. D

Regional Executive Director/ Project Director, PRDP

’’

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PRDP Central Visayas in numbers

2 CITiIES
21 MUNCIPALITIES
29 Enterprise subprojects
215 Proponent groups
16,901 Beneficiaries

2CITIES
9MUNCIPALITIES
9Farm-to-Market Road Subprojects
57.92 kmTOTAL ROAD LENGTH
45,696HOUSEHOLD

BENEFICIARIES

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Doing farm business in San Remigio, Cebu now
made easy with new FMR

Teofilo Pelicano Poncing Mollir

Read more >>>

48

Napoleon Sibay (in blue shirt) with his cab haul of livestocks.

CATMON SEEKS PRDP SUPPORT
FOR PWS REALIZATION

Eight (8) upland barangays consisting of Duyan, “There are incidents wherein my water hose would
get clogged up by stones, twigs and even bais (eels)
Agsuwao, Cambangkaya, Tabili, Can-ibuang, Bactas, and when it happens you have to trace it up from
Ginabucan and Tinabyonan in the Municipality of end to end and shake some sections for it to
Catmon have been identified as beneficiaries for a dislodge, “ Colonia shared.
proposed Potable Water System (PWS) lobbied for
funding under the Philippine Rural Development Delilah Procurato of barangay Duyan, could only
Project (PRDP). heave a deep sigh when asked about her water
fetching activities. Their source of water is an old
Six (6) of the eight have been identified with having well whose water supply would often run out and
level one water supply while barangay Ginabucan has could not even reach their sitio.
no existing source and Tinabyunan relies on deep
wells (atabay) with unpotable water. “The most unpleasant part of fetching water, is we
have to go up and down the slope just so we could
Catmon’s topography plus the location of the spring bring a few gallons for daily use, It’s an everyday
sources makes fetching water an extremely tedious journey,” Procurato said.
day-to-day activity for the residents.
She added she would be happy when rain falls but
Mercedes Colonia of barangay Cambangkaya had would be more ecstatic if a nearby faucet would be
already connected her water hose directly from the available as it will make her and the others more
Lumanoy spring (spring source) to her house but still productive unlike wasting so many hours going up
hopes for a better alternative. and down from their home to the source and vice

Read more >>>

59

versa. Potable Water System for Catmon.
For the elderly, the development of the water system
would mean a lot especially for Teresita Molijon of “These barangays are our agricultural areas, which
Agsuwao. Her old faucet has been unserviceable for are in dire need of the water project,’’ Colonia said.
quite some time forcing her to fetch water at the
nearest river. She further notes that there are even times that
“I am old and feeble, I can no longer endure having to farmers have no other choice but to bring their cows
carry a gallon from the river to my home besides its and carabaos to the rivers just so the animals could
only good for washing as it is impotable,’’ Molijon drink while other residents will have to line up for 24
remarked. hours just so they could fetch water./ BPJ

Architect Delilah Colonia, Municipal Planning
Development Coordinator (MPDC) of the Municipality
of Catmon cites scarcity of spring sources and distance
from the homes as reasons behind the proposed

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RPCO 7 CONDUCTS SPAR ACTIVITY TO ENSURE PROJECT HARMONY

Under PRDP’s infrastructure component, a Sub – partners in projects pre-implementation, actual
Project Appraisal Review (SPAR) is a necessary activity implementation and post-implementation phases./ BPJ
before a given project proposal earns its endorsement
to the Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) for A TEAM OF RPCO 7 ENGINEERS, PSO -SES OF-
approval. FICER AND KEY MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS FROM THE
MUNICIPALITY OF CATMON HAVE COMBED
A SPAR isn’t just a documentary pre-requisite, as it THROUGH 8 CATMON BARANGAYS TO ENSURE
holds an integral part of the project’s over-all THAT THE PROPOSED POTABLE WATER PROJECT
pre-implementation phase. CONFORMS WITH PRDP STANDARDS.

Through the conduct of SPAR, the completeness,
consistency and correctness of all documents specifi-
cally the projects’ feasibility is ensured.

HOW IT WORKS

Whether the project is a farm-to-market road (FMR) or
a Potable Water System (PWS), SPAR
documentation under the Regional Project
Coordination Office 7 (RPCO 7) is a collaborative effort
enjoining engineers from the infra component
(I-BUILD) with the I-Support component from the
Economics unit (ECON), Geomapping and Governance
Unit (GGU), Social Environmental Safeguards Unit
(SES), and the key municipal officials from concerned
City/Municipal Project Management Implementing
Unit (MPMIU) and even tapping barangay officials for a
successful and in-depth SPAR.

In the case of both Catmon and Moalboal
municipalities who were subjected to the RPCO 7
SPAR, I-BUILD takes charge of ensuring standard
design specifications are followed while Econ takes
charge in cross-checking the proposed project’s
feasibility, Geomapping and Governance Unit (GGU)
for placement transparency of tap stands, reservoirs
and pipeline distributions and also the Social
Environmental Safeguards Unit (SES) for ensuring the
right acquisition of parcels of land and whose
household directly and indirectly affected by the
project are properly negotiated and consulted about
just compensation.

These set of standards that the RPCO 7 puts to practice
in every conduct of the Sub-project Appraisal
Review regionwide is further taught to partner local
government units to further equip them as able

79

S A WOMEN’S MONTH FEATURE

8

The metamorphosis of the Guihulngan FMR in
Negros Oriental

A road section of the Hilaitan to Trinidad farm-to-market road.

Now at 63% in its physical progress, much has activities and even spiking up his fuel expenses and
vehicle maintenance due to the poor road condition.
transformed with the 18.5-km Hilaitan to Trinidad
Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) in Guihulngan City, Negros Other than copra, he would ply the Hilaitan to Trinidad
Oriental. Farm-to-Market Road at least three to four times a
day, almost every day, to fetch and deliver goods
Along with the ongoing rehabilitation and ranging from charcoal, bamboo and even construction
improvement, the road now has a bustling traffic, supplies.
effortless product movement with people traveling
more in less time. “Vehicle maintenance before with the old road was
truly costly since the leaf spring of my truck would
Various vehicle types can now be seen plying from often snap, a big difference today where our trips are
time to time, while roadside sari-sari stores and other now mostly plain sailing with less fuel consumption,”
small businesses have started to sprout like Duran remarked.
mushrooms.
According to Rene Selpura, traversing over the uneven
TRANSFORMATION FELT. road with oversized rocks made it challenging to
maneuver his motorcycle which often resulted to
49-year-old Ranulfo Duran, a businessman in Hilaitan damaged bearings and motor shock.
admits he used to make a fuss of how their old road
was a pain in the neck, affecting his copra buying Read more >>>

9

Now, he is among the few who started to upgrade “Wayback cars would get upend while motorcycles
vehicles from two-wheeled motorcycles to would fall to its side. Now my relatives, children and
four-wheeled cabs and cars. grandchildren can come see me at any time,
hassle-free,” Rebosquillo happily remarked.
“The better concreted road network led me to buy a
multicab which I also used to load most of my goods Rebosquillo who happens to be an identified project
e.g. feeds. Traveling is indeed a breeze now,” Selpura affected person (PAP), is among those who were given
said. just compensation to which she later used in
remodeling her small shop that was affected by the
For 88-year-old Cenona Rebosquillo of Casingan, who road improvement.
manages a local roadside shop, shared that glancing at
the widened and concreted road section brings her ex- Today, residents across the barangays of Hilaitan,
tra joy and relief knowing that relatives can now visit Mani-ak and Trinidad interconnected by the ongoing
her comfortably and safely. FMR are gratified to witness the daily metamorphosis
of the FMR which they always pointed out as their
most desired development which almost took forever

The Regional Project Coordinating Office-7 (RPCO7) warmly welcomes the newly appointed Deputy Project Di-
rector (DPD) Engr. Cirilo N. Namoc.

In his first meeting with the RPCO personnel, DPD Namoc laid down his 4 point agenda to RPCO 7 personnel
which were 1) continue best practices, 2) regular meetings to thresh out issues and concerns in the
Implementation of projects, 3) levelling of expectations, and 4) strategic approach to AF2.

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Editorial Board

Editor–in-Chief
Cheryl M. dela Victoria
Writer/Photographer/Lay-out Artist
Bexmae P. Jumao-as

Adviser
Atty. Salvador D. Diputado LLM., Ph.D

Co-Adviser
Engr. Cirilo N. Namoc
Circulation Managers:

RPCO 7 PRDP
Component and Unit Heads

Engr. Marcial D. Agad
Petronila A. Corpuz
Melquiades B. Ibarra
Elina P. Rivera
David E. Amrinto
Mariano T. Dumayac

Engr. Jose Paolo O. Acero
Elvin J. Milleza
Nerillen Z. Dinoy
Wilma T. Piedad