By Manny Piñol
President Rody Duterte has once again shown a more profound understanding of realities on the ground when on Thursday, he ordered the Agriculture Department to help the country’s Tribal People to develop thousands of hectares of Ancestral Domains into food production areas.
Speaking before leaders of the different tribes in Mindanao, President Duterte said hundreds of thousands of hectares of Tribal Lands are left idle or unproductive because of the failure of government to initiate projects in the area.
The President said that some of the enterprising tribal groups lease part of their Tribal Lands to companies but the earnings are not enough to lift the tribal people from poverty.
Calling me out in the audience, President Duterte said the Agriculture Department should work closely with the National Commission on the Indigenous People and other agencies to transform the vast tribal lands into food production areas.
In response to the call of Pres. Duterte, I will task the Undersecretary for Special Concerns, Ranibai Dilangalen, to form a team exclusively tasked to prepare a master plan for the development of the Ancestral Lands into food production areas.
Actually, I have already prepared a program for the development of the Tribal Lands which I presented to then Environment Secretary Gina Lopez which was not implemented because she failed to make it through the Commission on Appointments.
The “Bantay Kagubatan” Program calls for the engagement of farming families and tribal people in tree farming with intercrops of Cacao, Coffee, Abaca or Black Pepper.
The participating families will also be supported with livelihood projects like raising native pigs and free-ranged chicken.
The participating families which will be supported financially until they start to harvest their crops and the amount given to them would be considered as no-interest loans which could be paid later.
Next week, I will start meeting with Tribal Groups in each province of the country starting with Saranggani Province on Feb. 8.
This will mark the implementation of a Presidential directive to focus on the Tribal Communities, a move which should have been done a long time ago.
(Photos were taken during the dialogue between government led by President Duterte and the tribal leaders in the Navy Covered Court in Panacan District Davao City on Thursday.)
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