Worriers & Warriors In Modern Philippine History – BBM Wants To Invest In Maharlika And I Want Him To Invest In MaharLikas

Today, let us talk about warriors in Philippine history; now, the Maharlika, with House Bill 6398, “Maharlika Investments Fund.” But most people are talking about it as a Worrier Fund, not a Warrior Fund.

Today, Tuesday, 05 Dec 2022, Ramon Yedra shares on Facebook the YugaTech article by Arius Lauren Raposas (YugaTech, yugatech.com). Mr Raposas writes:

Filed last November 28 by six representatives to help [in] “achieving single-digit poverty levels and upper middle-income status for Filipinos,” the proposal has hurdled the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries as of December 1.

I know little about any investment funds, and I don’t want to know more – so I will rely on what one of my favorite columnists has written in exactly 4 words: “Drop The Maharlika Fund”! (interjection supplied)

That’s the title of Cielito F Habito’s column, Tuesday, 06 Dec 2022 (“No Free Lunch,” Philippines Daily Inquirer, opinion.inquirer.net). Here’s one worried paragraph from it:

Distrust alone cannot be enough basis to oppose an idea that is neither new nor unique. [And] beyond distrust, there are substantive reasons to oppose the measure, well rounded up in a statement released by several business and economic policy advocacy groups. The proposed fund, it notes, violates principles of fiscal prudence, additionality, social pension fund solvency, central bank independence, and good governance.

I now join the Worriers: No to the “Maharlika Investments Fund!”

I now shout a Warriors cry: Yes to the “MaharLikas!” (“PreciousNature”)

I am now thinking of what I call the “MaharLikas Fund for Agriculture & the Environment (MaharLikas)” – only P57 Billion to solve “Farmer Poverty” and “Climate Change.”

Yes, to solve both national and natural problems simultaneously: Farmer Poverty and Climate Change – because they have a common cause.

And what is that common cause? Chemical Agriculture (CA). CA makes farming today for millions of farmers a losing proposition – the costs are high and the returns are low. And it is CA that makes Mother Nature (Kalikasan) generate much greenhouse gases (GHGs) that exacerbate Climate Change.

Aside from helping resolve Climate Change? OA has these advantages: (a) cheaper inputs, (b) healthier crops, (d) healthier foods produced – flowers, fruits, leaves & stems of crops, (e) healthier bodies of consumers, and (f) healthier incomes of farmers.

Hereby, I propose that President BBM sponsor a P57 Billion MaharLikas fund for:

(1)   Farmer Subsidy –
P45 Billion: For subsidizing Organic Agriculture (OA) needs of farmers. Who will reject free fertilizers?

(2)   Rotavator Reinvention –
P10 Billion: For someone (I, me, myself) to re-invent the off-the-shelf rotavator into an automatic maker & spreader of “organic mulch” in 1 operation. Plus manufacture thousands of MaharLikas rotavator for free distribution to farmers.

(3)   Knowledge Bank (KB) –
P2 Billion: Create an OA “MaharLikas Knowledge Bank” user-friendly to highschoolers – who can explain things to adults. Buy & distribute laptops to farmer cooperatives. First, the MaharLikas KB will be in English; next, Tagalog, Ilocano etc.

The Maharlika Investments Fund is a Worrier;
the MaharLikas Investment Fund is a Warrior –
Choose wisely!@517