CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) – Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) Program held its 7th Multi-Year Planning (MYP) Workshop with Region 10 implementers, especially the Provincial and Municipal Agriculturists, at Harbor Lights Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City from July 9 to 13, 2018.
The workshop aimed at crafting project proposals for Lanao del Sur, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, and Lanao del Norte not only for the provision of funds for FY 2020-2022 but also in preparation for the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) one-year cash-based budgeting, which will start in 2019.
The provinces of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon are the covered provinces of the SAAD Program in the region starting years 2017 and 2018, respectively. Misamis Occidental and Lanao del Norte will be covered in 2019.
SAAD Program Director Bernadette San Juan stated that 21.6% of people in the Philippines are poor, wherein farmers ranked first in the poverty incidence for basic sectors with 34.3% along with fishermen with 34%. She also discussed a Project Proposal Rating Sheet which the implementers should use to review every project proposal in the MYP.
SAAD Regional Program Management Support Office (RPMSO) 10 Focal Person and Assistant Regional Director (ARD) Roxana Hojas as well as SAAD Deputy Focal Person Carlota Madriaga were present at the event. ARD Hojas briefed the participants regarding the importance of having MYPs, especially those who are from the 2019 SAAD provinces.
During the workshop, SAAD National Program Management Office (NPMO) Planning and Budget Head Darwin Pamatmat said that the cash-based budgeting requires that intervention items should be procured, distributed, and disbursed within the year. Otherwise, funds will be reverted back to the Treasury.
Pamatmat also emphasized to the regional and provincial implementers present at the workshop that every bottleneck of the program shall be taken into consideration when planning. He stressed that point when some participants raised up issues on procurement due to supplier problems.
Meanwhile, community participation was encouraged as a means of procurement. In fact, it is being practiced by the local government unit of Kalilangan, Bukidnon.
Also present in the event are SAAD NPMO Assistant Planning and Monitoring Head Ulysses Lustria Jr., SAAD NPMO Planning and Budget Officer Karla Borromeo, SAAD NPMO Planning and Monitoring Officer for Regions 9 and 10 Abigail Dela Cruz, and SAAD NPMO Public Relations and Communication Officer for Regions 9 and 10 Jhomai Canlas. Engr. Abdulharis Paporo, SAAD Region 10 Secretariat Head, and RPMSO and Provincial Program Management Support (PPMSO) staff provided the technical and administrative support.
The new SAAD Provincial Coordinator of Lanao del Sur, Datu Sabdullah Macapodi, was also introduced at the event for the first time.
SAAD Region 10 implementers are set to submit their multi-year proposals on July 20, 2018. ###
Writer: Jhomai Canlas, SAAD PR & Communications Officer
