The Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR), during its meeting held last June 10, 2021 approved a resolution of support to the RDC of Region XI in urging the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG) and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to adopt a harmonized set of monitoring guidelines for the Barangay Development Program (BDP) Projects under ELCAC.
It will be noted that the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 01, s. 2019 issued by the NTF-ELCAC prescribed that the monitoring and evaluation of ELCAC projects will be under the Regional Project Monitoring and Evaluation System (RPMES). The RPMES system was established by EO 93, series of 1993 aimed to facilitate program and project implementation, and devolve project facilitation, problem-solving, monitoring, and evaluation to the regional, provincial, city and municipal levels.
Recently, the DILG launched its “SubayBAYAN” which is an infrastructure monitoring system that covers all locally funded projects administered by the Office of Project Development Services (OPDS) of the agency.
The Cordillera RDC fully supported the RDC XI Resolution no.21, s.2021 that urges agencies concerned to formulate and adopt a harmonized set of guidelines for the monitoring of BDP projects because it noted that the different reporting forms required by SubayBAYAN and RPMES creates confusion among stakeholders and could be a waste of government resources.
RDC-CAR Vice Chair and NEDA-CAR Regional Director Susan Sumbeling mentioned that once the set of guidelines are harmonized and adopted by the NTF-ELCAC, DILG, DBM and NEDA, it will be institutionalized throughout the country.
The Barangay Development Program is a flagship program of the Duterte Administration for poverty alleviation and development in the context of addressing the root causes of insurgency. A total of eight communist terrorist groups (CTG)-cleared barangays in CAR will receive Php 20 million each under the BDP of the NTF-ELCAC. By Bob Lyndon B. Daroya