By Manny Piñol
It was already early evening when I arrived in Sogod, Southern Leyte, one of the areas in the Central Philippines which was devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda two years ago.
I did not really like to meet political leaders in this journey I called “Biyaheng Bukid,” but my older brother, retired police colonel Patricio asked me to listen to the problems of outgoing vice governor Shepherd Tan and his wife, Sogod Mayor Imelda Tan.
The talk centered on their effort to help the people of Sogod and of Southern Leyte to recover economically following the devastation the Super Typhoon.
They said that under the ageing coconut trees, abaca has proven to thrive well earning the farmers at least P140,000 per hectare per year.
“When the Abaca industry was thriving, people were able to send their children to school and the signs of financial comfort was evident,” he told me.
Things have changed, he said, since the time the Abaca industry was devastated.
Vice Governor Tan said they have been asking the Department of Agriculture to support their Abaca Industry with funding for tissue-cultured planting materials, fertilisers and stripping machine.
He said there is a great demand for Abaca fibre and there is a company owned by businessman Alberto Fenix Jr. which is buying their products
They went to the DA office in Quezon City but they came back empty handed.
This was the reason why they persistently asked my brother, who arrived in Sogod ahead of me for a family reunion in MacArthur, Leyte, to invite me to drop by.
Convinced that they really needed help to revive the Abaca Industry, I asked them to bring me to the nursery where they were propagating two varieties of Abaca.
I left later with the assurance that I would come back before June 30 to talk to the Abaca Industry stakeholders.
On Tuesday, I will meet with the businessman who buys the Abaca, Alberto Fenix, Jr., to determine the demand for Abaca in the international market.
If there is really a huge market, we could reintroduce Abaca as an intercrop to coconuts not only in the Leyte area but also Samar Island and Bicol Peninsula.
So, in less than a week, the Abaca farmers request for help from government was addressed.
This is the way how things will be down under the Presidency of Rody Duterte, giving to the people what they need to improve their lives.
(Night photos of the abaca nursery taken by John Pagaduan.)
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