DENR CAR to push through third party evaluation of CY 2013-2016 NGP plantation sites within 100has and above

Responding to the instruction that DENR CAR field offices to conduct briefing or reorientation to the concerned People’s Organizations/NGP Partners with sites covering an area of 100 hectares and above which is the subject of Third Party validation, CENRO Lagangilang headed by CENR Officer Engr. Gilberto Leo Tagura met in July 22, 2019 with the People’s Organizations (POs) within the coverage of CENRO Lagangilang, the Site Managers and Extension Officers.  During which, CENRO Tagura encouraged the members of the POs’ to be well-informed of the validation process and the preparatory activities they have to undertake prior to the conduct of validation proper.  Said validation may commence on August 5, 2019 in all the provinces of the Cordillera Region.

For the province of Abra there are about 44 sites that are subjected for evaluation by 3^rd Party.  About 17 of these sites are under the jurisdiction of CENRO Lagangilang.  The evaluators will come from a private institution in UP Los Baños, Laguna- a National Government Organization.  Accordingly, the validators will adopt the random sampling method of validation wherein 5% of the total area will be selected at 1 hectare each strategically located.

The meeting was a successful one as the participant POs had willingly expressed their commitment to support not only the validation but also to perform the necessary preparatory and restoration activities particularly to portions of the plantations with low survival rates. Towards the end of the orientation, the DENR and the POs have agreed to team up for the restoration activities starting June 25, 2019 until the start of the validation activity.

The conduct of third party evaluation is a determining activity for the release of ten (10) percent retention fee on the condition that the plantation site will register a survival rate of 85% and above. However, it will not only deal with the payment of retention fee but rather purposely provide credible Monitoring and Evaluation result that underscores good and bad implementation practices and the facilitating or hindering factors that led to the present status of these plantations. Ultimately, it also aims to provide inputs for future crafting of relevant project implementation guidelines and policies.|C. Lagangilang, RBPineda