P138.6-M worth of projects to help Mindanao peace process

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - The P138.6-million worth of new projects of the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) in Central Mindanao will hasten the government’s socio-economic thrusts complementing the Mindanao peace process, local officials said.

Mayor Manuel Dela Serna of Libungan town in North Cotabato said improvements in the socio-economic condition in peasant Moro and Christian communities in the province will hasten the normalization in areas devastated by armed conflicts in recent years.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala released the certificates of availability of funds (CAF) for P138.6 million worth of new PRDP projects in Region 12.

Alcala, accompanied by Amalia Jayag-Datukan, director for Region 12 of the Department of Agriculture, also turned over 11 newly implemented projects, costing P149.9 million, to recipient local government units under the rural infrastructure component of the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), now dubbed as PRDP.

“Like its predecessor, the MRDP, the PRDP will be implemented under the government’s effort for an inclusive growth, value-chain oriented, and climate resilient agriculture and fishery sector,” Datukan told The Star.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said her administration is grateful to Alcala and the DA-12 for focusing attention on the needs of farming communities in the province.

More than 80 percent of residents in North Cotabato, which has 17 towns and whose provincial capital is Kidapawan City, rely on rice and corn farming as main source of income. Some of them are also engaged in orchard, rubber tree and oil palm ventures.

Dela Cerna and Mendoza who is, now in her second term as governor of North Cotabato, both said the PRDP projects in Central Mindanao will help enhance Malacañang’s Mindanao peace initiatives, which aims to empower peasant sectors in Moro areas.

These initial PRDP projects in Region 12 include the concreting of an 8.6-kilometer farm-to-market road in Tulunan town in North Cotabato, three road concreting  projects in  Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat, and a water system in Barangay Lampitak in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

Alcala’s visit to Libungan was capped off with his ceremonial turnover, along with Datukan, Mendoza, other local executives, of a 13.7-kilometer farm-to-market road straddling through farming enclaves in the east of the municipality.  

Alcala had also turned over to different towns in North Cotabato a newly rehabilitated communal irrigation facility, and four other newly-rehabilitated farm-to-market roads in Aleosan, Midsayap, President Roxas, and Antipas towns.