Government finalizes plan to debug WB-funded M’danao plan

The bottlenecks that delayed the implementation of the World Bank-funded Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) have been smoothened out as a result of the meeting among program implementors last month.

The Department of Agriculture said the implementation of the MRDP, with an initial budget of P1.6 billion, is now assured with the finalization of a "catch up" plan by the Provincial Program Management and Implementing Units (PPMIUs) of Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Compostela Valley and Agusan del Sur.

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor presided over a meeting last month of program implementors to discuss bottlenecks that have contributed to the delay in the program’s implementation.

The meeting was attended by Presidential Adviser Paul Dominguez, Public Works and Highways Secretary Simeon Datumanong, Presidential Senior Adviser and MRDP adviser Ricardo T. Gloria, DA assistant secretary Edmund Sana, MRDP program directors Antonio Gallardo and Renato P. Manantan, Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas, concerned mayors of the province of Maguindanao, regional directors and representatives of the different line agencies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

As a result of the meeting, a task force composed of technical men from the different government line agencies involved in the implementation of the program was created to oversee the MRDP implementation and provide technical assistance to the LGUs.

The program coordination office of MRDP has told the business sector in Mindanao that the program has gained momentum after measures were instituted to address the program’s shortfall caused by the war in Central Mindanao at the start of the program (during the Estrada administration), the post election problems in Mindanao, the lack of equity funds by some LGUs and the changes of leadership in some covered LGUs in the five provinces covered.

The financial problem in Mindanao was discussed and resolved in a joint meeting of the DA, the office of the Presidential Adviser on Rural Development, DPWH, Maguindanao provincial government and the PCO in Cotabato City last Dec. 29, 2001.

Dominguez promised to support the program while Datumanong, who hails from Maguindanao, committed to help the LGUs in setting up the necessary counterpart funding.

Gallardo and Manantan said part of the delay was due to the processes and requirements being strictly observed in the program in order to ensure its sustainability.

One such requirement is the barangay development planning (BDP) that has to undergo participatory process, which eats up much time since the partner LGUs and community partners also have to undergo training to enhance their capabilities.

In the implementation of the livelihood projects, for instance, community priorities are also drawn out from the BDPs, they explained.

For infrastructure, the infra units of all municipalities also had to undergo training programs to upgrade and enhance their technical capabilities.

For the first year of Phase I, in 2000, much time was devoted in the preparation of the program partners. As of early 2001, they said, several MOAs had been signed among partner institutions both in the civil society, LGUs, government line agencies including the research development and extension networks in Regions 11, 12, 13 and ARMM.

They said that for the program to succeed in sustaining development in Mindanao, it has to put in place those requirements and processes.

"Now that those processes had been put in place, the implementation would be much easier and faster in 2003, the third and final year of phase I," they said.

The MRDP is a 12-year program that started in 2000 and was divided in four phases having three years each. The first phase covered the provinces of Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Compostela Valley and Agusan del Sur with a total budget of P1.6 billion.

If the initial phase succeeds, it will be expanded to cover a total of 18 provinces in phase 2 and to the succeeding phases until it can cover all provinces of Maguindanao when it ends in 2012, they said.