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WHEREAS, a Closure Act for the Upland Development Programme (UDP) was signed on July 11, 2007 by the Department of Agriculture and the European Commission to the Philippines (EC);

WHEREAS, Article 6 of the Closure Act states that the Department of Agriculture has the responsibility to ensure that credit and institution building (IB) activities under the UDP’s RFS component shall be continued after the completion of the UDP, utilizing the loan repayments and recoveries from cooperatives and institutional borrowers from UDP;

WHEREAS, there is a need to immediately create a successor Program to the UDP RFS component and this shall now be called as the “Upland Southern Mindanao-Credit and Institution Building Program (USM-CIBP)”;

WHEREAS, the ACPC, in line with its mandate under the AMCFP of AFMA, Executive Order No. 113 and the Magna Carta for Small Farmers has the legal mandate to implement institutional capacity building programs for the benefit of small farmers organizations and to oversee, manage and monitor agri-credit funds of the DA;

WHEREAS, DA recognizes the need to appoint an agency to continue the implementation of IB and credit services of the UDP under the USM-CIBP;

NOW, THEREFORE, for and in consideration of the above, the following are hereby ordered:

1. ACPC shall be the implementing agency of the successor program of UDP Rural Finance Services component called “Upland Southern Mindanao - Credit and Institution Building Program (USM-CIBP) reporting directly to the National Executive Committee (NEC) which shall be composed of the following:

Chair:           DA-Undersecretary for Operations
Members:      EC representative
                    Land Bank representative
                    PCFC representative
                    ACPC

The National Executive Committees shall have the following functions:

1.1 Review and approval of the general policies and policy directions of the USM-CIBP;
1.2 Review and approval of Annual Work Plans and Budget;
1.3 Review and approval of the monitoring and management reports prepared by the Secretariat;
1.4 Resolution of general policy and policy directions issues.

A simple majority of the members constitute a quorum for decision/resolution.

2. ACPC-IB Group shall be designated as the Secretariat to the NEC

3. ACPC shall engage the services of program partners and service providers and shall be authorized to enter into the necessary agreements for the implementation of the credit and institution building activities under the USM-CIBP.

4. Create the USM-CIBP Trust Fund consisting of the cash balance in the UDP account, the current Upland Development Trust Fund (UDTF) managed by the Land Bank and the Upland Microfinance Trust Fund (UMTF) managed by PCFC. The proceeds of the fund shall be used to fund credit and institutional building projects of UDP-assisted farmers organization and other beneficiaries in UDP areas, through the following mechanisms;

4.1 As a fund for the direct funding of institution building requirements of USM- CIBP accredited cooperatives and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) through program partners and service providers to transform them into viable financial institutions serving the UDP areas and provision of credit;

4.2 As a hold-out fund for credit activities. The earnings of the hold-out fund shall be utilized to fund the operational requirements of the program (e.g. program staff, maintenance expenses, etc.) and institution building projects and activities of accredited program partners and service providers for IB; and

4.3 The trust fund earnings shall be used to fund credit and institution building activities benefitting organizations and other beneficiaries in the UDP areas.

The appropriate mechanism to be utilized shall depend on a thorough review to be undertaken by ACPC that will prolong the life of the fund, deliver the most efficient and effective services to the targeted organizations and beneficiaries and create the greatest improvement in the lives of the upland farmers and their families.

5. The UDP-Program Office manned by a Core Team, in pursuant to the Closure Act of UDP, shall immediately effect the transfer, upon approval of this Order, the outstanding cash in their custody amounting to more or less EIGHT MILLION NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS (P8,900,000.00) in the USM-CIBTF.

6. ACPC shall assume the responsibility of negotiating and entering into appropriate agreements with financial institutions for the collection of receivables due from loans extended by the UDP.

7. ACPC shall prepare the Program Framework and craft the Operating Guidelines for approval of the NEC, following the provisions of the Closure Act and this Order for the implementation of the USM-CIBP.

8. ACPC shall submit monthly reports to DA and EC on the progress of the activities for the operationalization of the USM-CIBP within the first three (3) months after the signing of this A.O. Thereafter, ACPC shall submit quarterly reports and/or other reports as needed by DA and EC.

9. ACPC shall perform any and all acts and deeds necessary and incidental to the efficient and effective implementation and the attainment of the objectives of the USM-CIBP .

This Administrative Order shall take effect immediately.

Adopted: 01 Sept. 2007

APPROVED:

(SGD.) A RTHUR C. Y AP
Secretary

 

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^[1] A successor program of the Upland Development Program (UDP)-Rural Finance Services component which provide both credit and capacity building services.