[Philippines] SouthCot council oks $120-million loan for poverty reduction programs

from The Mindanao Daily Mirror

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - Development planners in South Cotabato have endorsed the local govern-ment's bid to take part in the second phase of the World Bank-funded Min-danao Rural Development Program (MRDP).
South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said the Provincial Deve-lopment Council (PDC) has unanimously passed a resolution endorsing he US$120 million MRDP-Adaptable Program Loan 2 (APL 2), which is projected to begin on the second half of the year.

She said the resolution would be forwarded by the council to the Department of Agriculture and the Regional Development Council.

"The council acknow-ledged that the MRDP is in consonance with the province's over-all goals on poverty reduction, agricultural productivity, environ-mental protection and con-servation," Fuentes said.

The PDC, the pro-vince's highest develop-ment planning and policy-making body, is composed of local government officials, representatives of provincial and national government agencies, non-government organizations, people's organiza-tions and the business community.

In passing the resolu-tion, Fuentes said the council agreed to forge a partnership with the MRDP and provide its own counterpart fund for various projects that would be implemented under the program.

The MRDP is a 12-year poverty reduction program that provides interventions to increase productivity and income of marginal and landless farmers and fisherfolk.

It is aimed at impro-ving the agriculture sector in the five provinces by constructing farm-to-market roads, water supply and irrigation facilities by setting aside a community fund for coastal and marine bio-diversity conservation.

Of the US$120-million APL2 fund, US$90 million will be funded through the World Bank while US$30-million would be financed by the national and local governments.

Caroline Geron, World Bank task team leader, said MRDP's second phase will focus on helping poor residents gain sus-tainable livelihood oppor-tunities and improve food security in the island.

In a recent dialogue with prospective benefi-ciaries in South Cotabato, Geron said the program will also help strengthen the implementation of the Local Government Code and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act.

She said the primary beneficiaries of the prog-ram would be the margi-nalized agricultural, fisher-folk and indigenous peoples' communities.