By Manny Piñol
At 4 a.m. today, I jumped off from my rented house in Quezon City to embark on yet another long journey which would take three days and bring me to four provinces in Northern Luzon.
My first destination is Banaue, Ifugao, a 7-hour trip through Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Nueva Viscaya, where I will spend the night after an expected long consultation with local leaders and farmers in the province.
Tomorrow, I will take a 2-hour to Nueva Viscaya where I will sit down with agriculture stakeholders again and discuss how we could improve agriculture in what is considered as the poorest province in the Cagayan Valley Region.
In the afternoon, I will proceed to Quirino Province for another consultative meeting with farmers and fishermen.
I will spend the night in Quirino Province and proceed to Nueva Ecija on Friday for the agriculture summit arranged by the officials of the province.
This will be my third trip to Ifugao Province this year. I first visited it in the first leg of Biyaheng Bukid and this was before I assumed office as Secretary of Agriculture.
I passed by the province again recently to meet with Governor Jose Mayam-o and Congressman Teddy Baguilat to assure them that President Rody Duterte is reaching out to all the political leaders of the country just as we are trying to serve the people in their areas.
Of course, I would be lying if I say that I was not offended by the statement of Cong. Baguilat that that Duterte administration has done nothing to his province during the first 50 days of President Duterte’s leadership.
The fact that I had visited the province twice to consult with agriculture stakeholders, especially Heirloom Rice farmers in the terraces, so that a sustainable program could be designed and implemented should have been taken as a proof of our determination to serve the people of the province.
You do not expect to feel and see the results of the planning process right away in just 50 days but the visits are manifestations of a sincere effort on the part of the Duterte administration to really listen to the voices of the farmers.
I believe in good planning and to do that you have to consult with the stakeholders. This is a process which was markedly absent in the past which led to the implementation of programs and projects which do not provide answer to the problems of the people.
I almost cancelled the Ifugao leg of the Biyaheng Bukid but in the end I was prevailed upon by the pleadings of Gov. Mayam-o, a very friendly political leader who thinks of the welfare of his people.
Also, I realised that in visiting Ifugao in spite of the attacks of Cong. Baguilat on my President, the Duterte administration proves that it is the welfare of the people that is paramount.
The three days covering four provinces will teach me a lot of lessons again and this why in spite of the rigours of the long travel, I insist on personally visiting the far-flung agricultural areas of the country.
Seeing and feeling the actual situation on the ground is more educational than just reading printed reports.
(Google map created by John Pagaduan shows the route of the 3-day Biyaheng Bukid.)
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