Directing The Farm-To-Market Roads – Should It Be The LGUs Or DA?

One look at the above scene in Cagayan Valley and you can imagine how valuable is a farm-to-market road (FMR) to food producers on one hand and to food consumers on the other hand. 
(farm-to-market road image[1] from DPWH.gov.ph)

I am 100% certain that local government units (LGUs) know the political value of an FMR, and that the Department of Agriculture (DA) appreciates the economic value of the same – and that I think is the source of the unstated problem:

“Which government arm should handle the national budget for FMRs: the LGUs or the DA?”

I am the one asking that question. That was the unasked question during a recent hearing of the House Committee of Appropriations (HCA) on the DA budget for 2022 as reported by Jasper Y Arcalas (08 September 2021, “DA To Lawmakers: Enact Law That Will Ensure Funding For FMR Program[2],” BusinessMirror). The HCA members of Congress noted that the Department of Budget & Management (DBM) had slashed the FMR budget by 57.7% to P4.98 Billion. The HCA also noted that the FMR allocation for 2022 was just 6.97% of the proposed DA budget of P71.438 Billion.

Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, who is ex-officio head of the DA, told the HCA, as reported by Arcalas:

The budget given by the DBM under the NEP [National Expenditure Program] for FMR [in 2022] is P4.9 billion… The other (portion of the total FMR) budget was transferred to the local government units; that’s our understanding.

My own understanding is that the LGUs have the right to determine what, where, when, why and how to build the FMRs in their territories – but:

The DA has not only the Right but the Duty to see to it that those FMRs are designed to play their significant contributory roles in transforming Philippine agriculture in those LGUs!

The DA is the best judge for positioning those FMRs so that they can support the OneDA Reform Agenda. In another media, ANN says Mr Dar said earlier (Author Not Named, 23 June 2021, “Dar Leads Agriculture To The Right Direction[3],” The Manila Times):

We must apply the “One DA” Agenda to transform the sector by employing major strategies towards a modern and industrialized Philippine agriculture.

The Agenda is built on 4 pillars: Consolidation, Modernization, Industrialization, andProfessionalization. Those key strategies total 12, these ones:

Consolidation: Bayanihan Agri-Clusters; Collective Action/Cooperatives Development; Province-Led Agriculture & Fisheries Extension Systems; Mobilization & Empowerment of Partners; Diversification; and Credit Support.

Modernization:Technology & Innovation including Digital Agriculture; Farm Mechanization & Infrastructure Investments; Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation Measures; and Food Safety & Regulations.

Industrialization: Development of Agri Industrial Business Corridors; Global Trade, Export Development & Promotion; and Postharvest, Processing, Logistics & Marketing Support.

Professionalization: Agriculture Career System; Education & Training for Agribusiness Management; Youth & Women Engagement; Ease of Doing Business; and Transparent Procurement.

Considering all those, among other things, you have to give the DA all the budget it needs to bring PH Agriculture from Good Enough to Best!@517

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[1]https://www.dpwh.gov.ph/dpwh/news/16817

[2]https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/09/08/da-to-lawmakers-enact-law-that-will-ensure-funding-for-fmr-program/?fbclid=IwAR17d3oaw7nNSBRdiS89QUrLnemxgsBcfz4YP6Mi54YwIZUpyob5sF-XRdk

[3]https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/06/23/supplements/dar-leads-agriculture-sector-to-the-right-direction/1804223

Bohol As Role Model Of Models For PH Prov’l Agri-Fishery Extension – William Dar

Personally, I see Bohol Governor Arthur Yap knows exactly what he is doing for his province in the broad field of Agriculture. His view is wholistic, all systems depending on each other…

That is why Rita Dela Cruz says “DA Picks Bohol As Model For Prov’l Agri-Fishery Extension[1]” (22 June 2021, StratComms, DA.gov.ph):
(Bohol image[2] from Detourista)

Agriculture Secretary William Dar has directed the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Executive Directors (REDs) to make Bohol a model for the agency’s Province-Led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Systems (PAFES), one of the major strategies under the “OneDA” Reform Agenda to transform Philippine agriculture.

More precisely, Bohol should be treated as The Role Model of Models for PAFES. Under OneDA, 17 provinces are models for agricultural extension, 1 model province each for the 17 regions of the Philippines. Mr Dar issued the Bohol-achievement-recognition directive after a 2-day visit where Mr Yap presented Bohol’s initiatives to develop the island-province’s agriculture and fishery sectors. Impressed, Mr Dar said, “Governor Yap’s presentation and package of proposed projects remain one of the best we have seen to date, as he matched Bohol’s priority agri-fishery programs and plans with the OneDA agenda.” That’s my Sec!

For his part, Mr Yap said, “We are aware that you are pursuing 18 key strategies, grouping them into four pillars, as part of the OneDA agenda. So, we laid out our banner agriculture programs using it as a benchmark or matrix so we could see where we are lacking.” That’s my Guv!

This is the first time I heard of a provincial governor knowing exactly what he is saying when he talks about the OneDA Reform Agenda supported by 4 pillars and 18 key strategies – to bring about equitable and sustainable family lives for farmers and fishers.

Ms Rita says Bohol needs more funding for major agriculture and fishery projects that include the “Advance Rice Technology” aiming for average yields per hectare of 7 MT for hybrid rice and 6 MT for inbred. Other initiatives cover corn, rootcrops (purple yam), coconut, bangus, tilapia, seaweeds, dairy, native chicken, and swine. For those projects, Bohol is requesting from the DA a budget addition of up to P976 million, and for farm-to-market roads P1.4 billion.

Yes Sir! You have to aim for much higher rice yields hybrid and inbred varieties. You also have to grow multiple crops within the province. And you cannot forget livestock. And to help ease transportation here and there, especially for farm produce, more FMRs.

Ms Rita says Mr Dar explains the “Bohol model” vis-à-vis the priority commodities:

This is exactly what we want LGUs should do, that is, focus on priority commodities and (estimate) the needed budget. Kung lahat sana ng probinsiya ay may priority setting na ganito, mas mabilis ang pag-unlad ng sektor ng agrikultura sa bawat lalawigan. (If only all provinces had priority settings like this, agriculture will progress faster in each province.)

Province sets the priorities; DA sends the necessary additional budget – all is well that partners well!@517

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[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/da-picks-bohol-as-model-for-provl-agri-fishery-extension/?fbclid=IwAR2hHSAiiHu48cpz6_edqz8FNYDI1O7v_83snlB9tkkfBTxXX8LTa66_g4k

[2]https://www.detourista.com/guide/bohol-attractions/

For Me, A September Birthday Gift From Microsoft – Why Not, Bill Gates!?

The above composite image is a surprise – I did not compose it; Microsoft’s Windows 10 did! Magically. This is my unbelievable story.

I have been using for 2 years Windows 10 along with Microsoft Word 2016for writing, editing, blogging, desktop publishing, including cropping images. And yes, I have blogged at least 5000 long essays and desktop published at least 20 books with earlier versions of Word since 2005!

Much earlier: On Innocents Day 36 years ago, 28 December 1985, I started learning word processing – a girl helped me with an IBM desktop PC at the Director’s office of the UP Los Baños’ Farming Systems & Soil Resources Institute (FSSRI), with WordStar 1. She was grumpy – she told me, pointblank, “Mabuti ka pa, libre ang aral mo! Ako, nagbayad.” (Good for you! You’re learning free, while I had to pay.) I said nothing. I had requested the Director of FSSRI, my classmate Elpidio L Rosario, to tell her to teach me, and she had to follow orders. When she lent me the complete WordStar guidebook (I forgot how many pages), I began typing the instructions (I was already a fast typist at that time), and in a day or two I had my copy of the WordStar instruction manual – I returned the original with thanks. Thus I began to roam the digital world!

Around 1987, at the headquarters of the Madecor Group, also headed by Pids Rosario, I met a common friend, Jerry A Canonizado (JAC) and I bragged that WordStar 4 was the best word processor. Pointblank, JAC said, “How can you say that when you have not even tried Microsoft Word 4?” Shame on me.

Afterwards, I tried Word 4 – and I never left Microsoft!

Like I just told you, I’m now using Windows 10, and I have in my folders a collection of accidental Windows 10 collages, 445 “individual” images. I put the word “individual” in quotes because, like the image above, you can see composite images that I did not compose, my Windows 10 did!

Above is my LumixFZ100 digital camera’s image of my desktop laptop’s external ViewSonic monitor. Onscreen, it says, “03:13 Tuesday, 17 September.” My God! That’s my birthday! (year 2019, image number P2140619, jpeg).

It’s not the first such image I have with exact time and date – the first Windows 10 collage I have in my folder is dated 21 April 2018, some 18 months earlier.

I have googled for – “Windows 10” collage images –  and saw too-formal, nice-looking images of shapes and figures. But none exciting as the one you see above.

Of course, when I work for my own blog or my own book, I must be excited. Those Windows 10 collages I have, accidental as they are, have directly provided me more impetus – and more fun – working with Microsoft Word in my blogging. Accidents happen, and these collages are the kinds that even Microsoft Corporation should welcome!

Microsoft, doesn’t Frank A Hilario deserve a special award for dis/uncovering a special talent of Windows 10? Thanks!@517

Entrepreneurship & Leadership As Challenges In Agriculture To Youth & La Salle University

What is the future of Philippine agriculture?!

De La Salle University (La Salle) was founded in 1911 by Catholic Brothers; the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (now UP Los Baños) was founded in 1908 – after more than a century of ignoring the countryside, now La Salle is looking at what it can contribute to the Business of Agriculture. Welcome!

Gumamela Ceres Bejarin says (27 August 2021, “Future In Agriculture Takes Spotlight In Ley La Salle’s Business Law Conference 2021” with the theme “The Future In Agriculture” DA.gov.ph):

Agriculture Secretary William Dar highlighted the important role of the younger generation in innovating, serving, and leading towards the development of the Philippine agriculture during the Ley La Salle’s Business Law Conference on 27 August 2021.

Mr Dar said at the virtual conference:

I am always especially pleased when educated young people show an interest in agricultural development and the future of Philippine agriculture. We of course recognize that the youth have most to gain from this future-oriented development agenda.

The entrance of Roman Catholic La Salle into the agricultural scene is much welcome because the Filipinos are mostly Catholics.

As head of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Mr Dar’s thoughts have something to do with the fact that farming is an ageing profession, the average age of PH farmers being 53 now, according to a UP Los Baños survey. “Assuming that average holds, we might reach a critical shortage of farmers in just 12 years or so,” he said.

He then encouraged the young conference participants from Ley La Salle, “the premier organization for Legal Management students, aspiring lawyers, and advocates of the law of De La Salle University,” to apply their skills, talents and vigor into agriculture and agribusiness.

Specifically, he mentioned the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) loan program called Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA). KAYA offers zero-interest loans of up to P500,000 payable in 5 years for young agripreneurs, those who are 18 to 30 years old, and are graduates of either formal or non-formal schooling.

Aside from KAYA, there is the Mentoring and Attracting Youth in Agribusiness (MAYA) Program. MAYA is a 24-week internship for developing young Filipinos into agri-fishery entrepreneurs, or training them to become future leaders serving the agriculture sector. These are historic loans for Filipino youth.

Mr Dar said:

As Secretary of Agriculture, I am committed to providing opportunities for the youth to ensure they are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but also agents of change, reform, and agricultural modernization today.

“As a leader in molding human resources who serve the church and the nation,” according to its website, the university is an ideal partner with the DA for harnessing the youth into agribusiness. Now, La Salle will have to learn more agriculture. As an agriculture graduate and a teacher, I suggest La Salle begins its journey into the unknowns of PH Agriculture by inviting un-successful representatives of farmer cooperatives and associations for talks/conversations. That’s only for starters:

Failures should teach as much as successes!@517

In PH, Christmas Begins In September – And Reigns Mostly In The Heart

In the Philippines, the Christmas season began Wednesday, 01 September 2021. How celebratory can that be!?

We Filipinos are a unique people. We must be the most absorbent layer of humanity you can find anywhere in the universe, having in/visible (and audible) Spanish and American (and Japanese?) influences around and inside us.

My parents (Dionisio Hilario and Sixta Agapito) and we three children (Emilio, Frank and Brillita) lived in the rural village of Sanchez in the town of Asingan in the province of Pangasinan, northern Luzon, Philippines. We were neither poor nor rich. The most luxurious item we ever bought was a crankable phonograph player, a Victrolaif I’m not mistaken. I’m talking of the 1950s, from elementary grades to high school. We did not even have a transistor radio.

And we never exchanged gifts! My father always made sure we had a “Christmas Tree” – which was always the top of a pine tree coming from Baguio City, where he had a family friend I have forgotten the family name of. (Helping in that family’s mechanical repair business, Emilio finished his high school there.)

Every year we had the proper branch of a pine tree, Pinus kesiya, native of the Philippines, a “Christmas tree,” we called it, but we never had any exchange of gifts. Nonetheless, we children could go around the neighborhood, sing Christmas songs, English and Tagalog and Ilocano, and receive some cash, and be happy in sharing the coins.

But where was the Christmas Love? It was in the heart.

In the above image, you can see a merchant arranging his wares – star-shaped lanterns most Filipinos call “parol.” At home in Asingan, we spoke of the English name “star” that came with “Christmas” and the “Christmas tree.” At home, I took care of the signs “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year.” English, yes. Even my unschooled mother said “Krismas.” But no exchanging of gifts.

Were we less Christians? (I don’t know of any family in our village who did exchange gifts among the members.)

It was enough for us to remember that Someone was born on Christmas Day, or some such day, the Son of God, who rules the Earth and our lives. We tried to follow his Ten Commandments, whether we exchanged gifts at Christmas time or not.

And the rest of the year? Jose Mari Chan is in my mind, the Filipino singer symbol of Christmas. This time I’ll sing the “September Song” (from the “Album: Kurt Weill: Berlin & American Theater Songs”):

Oh it's a long, long while
from May 'till December
And the days grow short
When you reach September.
When the Autumn weather
turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time
For the waiting game.

For the days dwindle down
To a precious few...
September... November...
And these few precious days
I'll spend with you.
These precious days
I'll spend with you.

I’ll be 81 on the 17th. To my family: God willing, I’ll spend the next 20 years with you, and you, and you ……!@517

Peace Is Where The Feeling Is Mutual!

In the above image, September is “National Peace Consciousness Month” according to the Civil Relations Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Implied: “Peace is the lack of civil strife.”

The slogan is workable: “Tayo ang pagbabago, tayo ang kapayapaan.” “We are the change, we are the peace.”

I say: It’s more than people, people!

If you ask me, a warrior writer who is first of all the son of an unrich farmer:

Peace is the absence of social conflict amid the presence of social growth. Peace is the State guaranteeing that everyone meets the basic necessities. I say, in peace, prosperity is achievable and achieved by families according to their abilities.

More. I say peace is multi-dimensional, not simply people-oriented. As a people, we must be:

1.     At Peace with Environment.

2.     At Peace with Technology.

3.     At Peace with Education.

4.     At Peace with National Development.

5.     At Peace with Neighbors.

 

1.     At Peace with Environment

Because we cannot exist without food; because Agriculture is the indispensable source of food; and because Environment is the only place where Agriculture can occur – we must respect the Environment. We must neither cause nor allow pollution to occur, nor degradation of the natural resources.

2.     At Peace with Technology

Because we cannot produce Food without Technology, we must be careful that our use of Technology is economic and beneficial to all.

3.     At Peace with Education

Ultimately, Education enables us to make a good life. Education enables us to go up the ladder of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – yet, we must allow and even help others do the same.

4.     At Peace with National Development

The attainment of positive family lives must lead to the attainment of positive village lives and on to the development of a positive national life. Instead of Gross National Product (GNP), we must measure the total material things that our country has produced and commercialized with the Gross National Prosperity (GNP) index.

5.     At Peace with Neighbors

Our neighbors are those in the houses next door, others within the village, within the town, within the province, within the region, within the country, and outside the country. At peace with our neighbors means we behave as Christians at all times and all circumstances. There can be no peace without feeling right about it. The feeling must be mutual!

That is why on this September, my birth month, I am making a perpetual vow, whatever length of life I have left now that I am almost 81, to continue to write for the emancipation of the Filipino farming families from poverty – however you define poverty.

And the longer we impose the Covid-19 lockdown on society, the longer we will deepen the uneconomic situation that we have. The longer the lockdown, the more of the poor families we make.

Under the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, the Department of Agriculture is running for farming families the anti-poverty program. With poverty, there can be no peace.

Ultimately, “Peace is loving your neighbor as you love yourself.”@517

Ilocano Idealism, Chooks-to-Go Compassion – Ways To Go, Filipino!

 Ronald Mascariñas, as a Filipino you make me cry happily;
Teófilo Yldefonso, as an Ilocano, you make me proud doubly!

Thursday, 02 September 2021, this was the title of Chooks-To-Go President Ronaldo Mascariñas’ Facebook sharing[1]: “Chooks-To-Go Honors PH First Olympic Medalist And War Hero Teófilo Yldefonso By Giving Back To Kin.” The 726-word tribute happily & proudly relates of Teófilo Yldefonso’s (TY’s) Olympic records (plural), and World War 2 selfless heroism. Thus, Mr Mascariñas says of TY:

Chooks-to-Go is posthumously honoring the first Filipino Olympic medalist and war hero, Teófilo Yldefonso, with a perpetual supply of 100 oven-roasted chickens every month. The grant, to continue for as long as the business is alive, shall be given to his great-great-grandson, Raul Yldefonso, the designated representative of his surviving heirs.

Double Wow:
TY's exploits were unprecedented;
Mr Mascariñas’ tribute-gift is unparalleled!

(And yes, Chooks-to-Go chickens are unequalled, not only in their roasted goodness, but most especially because they are raised without antibiotics or growth hormones; they are organic, unlike others.)

Though the memory of Yldefonso continues to live on in history books, his legacy does not have the same recall as modern-day sports heroes.

Yldefonso was the country's first-ever Olympic medalist, winning bronze in the 200m breaststroke event of the 1928 Summer Games in Amsterdam. He repeated the feat four years later in Los Angeles as he became known as the "Ilocano Shark" and "The Father of the Modern Breaststroke."

He was the Philippines’ first-ever Olympic medal winner, 1928. And he was a soldier.

During World War 2, he and his men under the 5^thInfantry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts of the US Army, were captured in Bataan by a Japanese army group, whose leader was Reizo Koike, who earlier in the 1936 Olympics became his friend. Now his friend was advising him to escape, leave his men behind, but he said “No.” He died in the Japanese concentration camp; he was 38.

TY’s hometown Piddig, Ilocos Norte, did honor him with a bust standing on top of a hill; today, only a marker remains.

Up until this day, Raul and the Yldefonso clan are still fighting to keep the memories of their great-great-grandfather alive so that the next generations will remember his heroism.

Raul hopes (the) Chooks-to-Go’s initiative to honor Teófilo will generate support for this cause.

I say that TY’s was double heroism, one in international sports, and the other in international relations. This is highly unusual, and the life of TY should be doubly celebrated. To help start the ball rolling, I could write a book on him and his family if someone would finance the interviews & research. Note: As a full-blooded Ilocano, I don’t need a translator.

Mr Mascariñas says that Raul has decided to share Chooks-To-Go’s gift chickens with the poor folks of the town of Piddig. “This is their way of sharing their blessings to the community that embraced Teófilo Yldefonso as (its) own.”

That is the 3^rd Yldefonso heroism, which Chooks-To-Go has duly encouraged: “You share your blessings with others!”@517

[1]https://web.facebook.com