TACLOBAN CITY—When the fourth World Bank mission comes in May to conduct a midterm assessment on the implementation of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) of the Visayas cluster, it will be answering questions from the provincial governors, particularly on the tedious process the bank requires before a project is approved.
The process is too “cumbersome” for many local government units (LGUs), that many of them have hired top-caliber consultants to assist them prepare the proposal and other documents. The process beats the reason for its existence—to alleviate poverty in the countryside by enhancing access by small farmers to market.
“The process is so tedious, it makes it too difficult for the LGUs to comply. It is not like the usual requirement for bidding. The process is just so difficult,” Samar Gov. Sharee Ann Tan told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
“I want to raise that issue, because the ultimate goal of PRDP is to alleviate poverty and ease the transport in and out of the farms. Our farmers are already suffering. While it takes a long time for a project to be implemented, the farmers are pushed deeper into poverty,” she said.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Director U-Nichols Manalo said the World Bank mission will be meeting with governors of all Visayas provinces, agriculture officials and program stakeholders. A field visit will also be conducted in implementing programs under I-REAP and I-BUILD.
Five subprojects under the I-REAP program are currently being undertaken in Eastern Visayas, all in Northern Samar, which is the poorest province in the region. Four projects on I-BUILD are currently being implemented—two in Southern Leyte, one in Northern Samar and one in Samar—all involving the rehabilitation and improvement of farm-to-market roads.
According to its web site, PRDP is a six-year project “designed to establish the government platform for a modern, climate-smart and market-oriented agri-fishery sector.” PRDP partners with the LGUs and the private sector in providing key infrastructure, facilities, technology and information that will raise incomes, productivity and competitiveness in the countryside.
Tan said that, they are eyeing irrigation and water-supply projects for implementation under PRDP. She said most projects currently being implemented are road and livelihood projects.
Tan said that, while writing the proposal and complying with the requirements are already tedious, every time there is a change in leadership at the DA, the requirements also changed, and another memorandum of agreement is signed.
“Each regional director has a different interpretation, and each has different requirements. This is like a never-ending process,” Tan said.
The DA office in Eastern Visayas also had four changes of regional directors for the last three years—two of them served under the Duterte administration.
“Some LGUs have already hired private consultants. This is the main complaint of LGUs, and I think other provincial governors share this concern,” Tan said.
Tan said they did not hire any consultant in Samar. “The positive thing is the capability of our staff has been harnessed that in other proposals, writing it has become a breeze.”
Manalo said the DA could not streamline the requirements, because these are requirements for loan. “All we can do is capacitate and be insistent to LGUs. Marami lang talaga ang requirements, and the process is very tedious,” he said.
He said the possibility of streamlining the process will be one of the agenda they will discuss with the World Bank mission. “It will be one of the items for discussion,” he said.
Manalo said many projects are already in the pipeline for implementation. The DA is only waiting for the provincial governments to submit its Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP).
“The PCIP will be the trigger, once approved by the province and endorsed to the national project coordination office and approved by World Bank, all the projects in the pipeline will be implemented,” he said.