Ferdinand “FM” Marcos – He Was Good And Bad; When He Was Good, He Was The Best!

This is a full-blooded Ilocano writer speaking, with Hilario roots from Rosario, La Union: 

Bad, FM was Bad;
Good, FM was The Best!
(image of Imee & her father FM from Wikipedia[1])

Now the business at hand. According to authors Miguel Paolo P Reyes, Joel F Ariate Jr & Larah Vinda Del Mundo of the article “‘Success’ Of Masagana 99 All In Imee’s Head – UP Researchers[2]” (24 May 2020, Vera Files), the authors being themselves the UP researchers:

Masagana 99 did not succeed. I ask, in what:

(1) Producing PH rice for export? 

(2) Growing 99 cavans per hectare?

(3) Providing a proper technology package?

(4) Fashioning out a rice credit program?

(5) Managing the disbursement of funds?

The UP researchers themselves say in their report:

A thorough look at the much-hyped Masagana 99 showed that for a brief time after it was launched, the Philippines did become a rice-exporting country – or barely that. But data and studies show that this point of pride for the Marcoses and their supporters was not solely attributable to the Masagana 99 credit program.

“Barely that” – what I know is that we exported some rice. That the export was “not solely attributable to the Masagana 99 credit program” is to acknowledge the export anyway!

This “success” came at a significant cost, not only to the government, but also to the farmers… Masagana 99 also had an adverse impact on the environment brought about by its dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

“Significant cost” – is government to count the cost of the people’s benefits from a program? What is the “cost” to the farmers they are not saying. The adverse effects on the environment from chemical agriculture continue to this day, so what’s the difference, lady and gentlemen?

At the core of Masagana 99 was a package of technology offered to farmers in the form of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, herbicides, low-cost fertilizer, and other modern agricultural inputs.

As far as I know, the program Masagana 99 was organized by scientists of the UP College of Agriculture, UPCA, and I’m sure they knew what they were doing.

About the supervised credit scheme, I know firsthand because I was in and out of UPCA from 1959 to beyond 1973, when Masagana 99 was launched. I was also a member of the Los Baños Jaycees and, of course, a favorite topic of conversation was Masagana 99 – farmers, businessmen and banks themselves were taking advantage of the program!

That is to say:

It was those who abused the Masagana 99 program that made it fail! So why blame FM for the people’s greed?

Enough of the bad!
Now the good.

Just one: Who was the PH President who laid out much of the infrastructure of Philippine Science today? FM. Thus: Without FM creating the Forest Research Institute, FORI, where could I have launched myself into a writing career where I became the best of me!?

Thank you FM for FORI – and for being The Best!@517

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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcos_family

[2]https://verafiles.org/articles/success-masagana-99-all-imees-head-researchers