DAVAO CITY, August 11, 2025 – Second FMR for Davao Occidental greenlit! The Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) approved Davao Occidental’s Local Project Management Implementation Unit (LPMIU)’s subproject proposal of a farm-to-market road (FMR) in Barangay Datu Danwata under the Ancestral Domain of Blaan and Tagakaulo, for the Department of Agriculture – Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP) Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) XI.
“Sa tanan nga naa diri karon, dako amoang pasalamat kay sa kadugayon sa panahon nga gipangandoy, maabot na jud: kaning dalan gikan sa Centro paingon sa Kalamagan. MIADP ang nahimong tubag sa among pangandoy,” Datu Danwata Women’s Association (DDWA) President Bae Lolita Labis Danwata said.
(To all of those who are here, we are grateful because we’ve been dreaming of this project for a long time, and now it’s coming to fruition: this road from Centro to Sitio Kalamagan. MIADP has become instrumental in making our dreams come true.)
The subproject, entitled “Improvement/Concreting of Brgy. Datu Danwata: Centro Datu Danwata to Sitio Kalamagan Farm-to-Market Road”, is the fourth subproject approved for the entirety of RPCO XI’s project implementation so far.
It is the third infrastructure subproject lodged under Component 2 or Resilient Ancestral Domain Agri-Fisheries Infrastructure, and the second FMR subproject for the AD of Blaan and Tagakaulo.
Appealing to the RPAB members, Regional Executive Director (RED) and Project Director (PD) Macario “Bong” Gonzaga pleaded, “Nasa kamay ninyo nakasalalay ang pangarap ng ating mga kapatid. Siyasatin nating maigi, ngunit tignan din natin ang importansiya nito sa komunidad. Itong proyekto na ito ay matagal na nilang minimithi.”
(The dreams of our brothers and sisters are now in your hands. Let’s examine it thoroughly, but we should also see the bigger picture: its importance to the community. They have been longing for this project.)
An RPAB approval is a pivotal step forward in project implementation, as it indicates the technical feasibility, economic viability, and environmental, social, and operational soundness of a subproject. It signifies that the subproject can now advance to the next steps of implementation.
This process includes the facilitation of the Implementation Management Agreement (IMA) among MIADP PSO, MIADP RPCO XI, and the Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU) of Occidental, and the issuance of No Objection Letter 1 for the procurement process to ensue.
FMR Subproject in Datu Danwata
Spanning 2.673 kilometers, the two-lane FMR will connect Centro Datu Danwata to Sitio Kalamagan, in direct support for the agri-enterprise subproject of DDWA of coffee consolidation, post-harvest processing, and marketing of green coffee beans. The enterprise subproject gained the same RPAB approval last month.
The subproject, with an estimated cost of more than Php 56 million, also aims to reduce average costs of transporting agricultural commodities inside the road influence area.
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