BONTOC, Mtn. Province – The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) has convened the stakeholders to mainstream the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan into the Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUP) and the Provincial Physical Development Framework Plan (PPFDP) of the municipalities last March 13-15, 2018 at the Ridgebrooke Hotel here.
During the program, Provincial Administrator Atty. Amador Batay-an called on the participants to process how to address the fact that the province is the poorest province in Northern Luzon.
“You have come together to see how you can address this concern”, he said.
Three prime commodities – Arabica Coffee, Heirloom Rice, and High Value Crop (White Potato) – were identified as the crops for the province.
Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator Lily Rose Kollin said that the municipal CLUPs are to be presented that include locations of tourism sites, agricultural areas, forest lands, residential areas, among others.
“This will also be an opportunity for monitoring the CLUP accomplishments”, she said.
Edgardo Morales of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) served as a resource person who critiqued the presented CLUPs. Municipality accomplishments were assessed as to the levels and what needs improvements.
Most municipalities are known to be still finalizing their CLUPs and the other plans including the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan.
As part of the activity, technical assistance on mainstreaming strategies were inputted by the representatives of the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) detailing how the commodities shall be incorporated in the plans.
The Provincial Tourism Office, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the provincial office of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, among others, are members of the Provincial Land Use Committee (PLUC) that validates the plans.
By Roger Sacyaten
