TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE—The National Program Management Office (NPMO) of the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program conducted its Multi-Year Planning (MYP) and Workshop with program implementers in Region VIII at the Luxury Suites Hotel, Tacloban, Leyte on July 16 to 20, 2018.

Regional Technical Director Dr. Elvira C. Torres, Assistant SAAD Regional Focal Person, welcomed the participants and expressed support to SAAD, stating that in the program implementation, “there is a lot of money (budget) but there is also a lot of responsibility (accountability)”.

In the succeeding days and for his part, OIC-Regional Technical Director Dr. Andrew Rodolfo T. Orais, SAAD Regional Focal Person, inspired the implementers by encouraging them to strengthen, organize, and consult [the stakeholders] in terms of what they really want and can continue to utilize as an organization.

He added, that as change agents, we should instill ownership of projects to the farmers in order to help them graduate from poverty, as the government only facilitates these food and livelihood interventions.

Consisting the SAAD NPMO Planning and Monitoring Team Visayas are its Planning Officer, Ms. Katherine Angeles; its Monitoring Officer, Ms. Ashley Mae Apigo; and its PR & Communications Officer, Ms. Ela Arciaga; led by the Assistant Head of the SAAD NPMO Planning and Monitoring Group, Mr. Ulysses Lustria, Jr., who said that, ‘we don’t just give [the farmers] food, we give them [sustainable] livelihood’.

They discussed the Project Proposal Rating Sheet which the implementers should keep in mind in reviewing every project proposal in the MYP. This ensures that the projects are relevant, suitable, efficient, effective, and sustainable; and that logistics, proximity, impact, farmers’ capability (absorptive capacity) are factored in.

They also emphasized that the individual farmer-partners should be formed into organizations or be made to join one, later on transforming them into viable enterprises.

During the workshop, SAAD National Program Management Office (NPMO) Planning and Budget Head Mr. Darwin Pamatmat said that the cash-based budgeting, which will start in FY2019, requires that intervention items should be procured, distributed, and disbursed within the year. Otherwise, funds will be reverted back to Treasury.  Thus, every bottleneck of the program shall be taken into consideration when planning.

Consistent with the agreements during the SAAD Program’s First Quarter Assessment (held in Caluwayan Palm Island Resort and Restaurant, Marabut, Samar on April 24 to 27, 2018), which include working together with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) – SAAD, the latter’s interventions (fingerlings distribution, seaweed development, fishing gears and paraphernalia, technology distribution, cages for livelihood, post-harvest equipment, and marketing assistance/support) were presented during the program as well.

After reviewing and evaluating each MYPs made by the concerned provinces, SAAD RPMSO VIII is set to submit their multi-year proposals to the SAAD NPMO on July 27, 2018.

The MYPs for FY 2020-2022 aim to set a direction for the SAAD towards the attainment of its overall objective, aside from becoming the basis for the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in the annual approval of the SAAD Program Plan and Budget proposal.

Leyte, Southern Leyte, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, and Samar are five (5) SAAD-covered provinces in Region VIII since 2017, chosen based on the 2012 and 2015 Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) poverty statistics reports.

Writer: Ela Arciaga, SAAD NPMO PR & Communications Officer