THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said it is funding some P10.4-million infrastructure projects in Albay to boost further economic activities in the province.
Albay Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer Romulo Britanico said the money would go to the building of a 100-linear-meter spillway in Barangay Aurora-White Deer, Jovellar; a 1.5-kilometer Marayag-San Isidro farm-to-market road in Libon; and a 35-linear-meter concrete footbridge in Sitio Lagsingan, Rapu-Rapu.
The DAR said the money would also be used for a coconut-based processing and farming system in Guinobatan.
Britanico said preparatory activities are now being simultaneously undertaken by the DAR-Albay Office after a signing of the memorandum of agreement with the concerned municipal mayors on September 10.
The local government unit (LGU) of Guinobatan is one of the beneficiaries in the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (GPBP), which provides LGUs funding support from various national government agencies.
Under the program, previously known as “bottom-up budgeting,” is a strategy adopted in 2011 to encourage grassroots participation in the budget process.
A municipality is entitled to P15 million, while a city is entitled to P30 million under the GPBP. Projects under the program are identified by civil-society organizations in partnership with concerned LGUs.
“Next year we expect more [and] bigger projects through the DAR to sustain the development of our locality,” Guinobatan Mayor Ann Gemma Ongjoco said.
Britanico said the project would benefit 10,400 farmers, of which 527 are agrarian-reform beneficiaries.
Jonathan L. Mayuga