DREAMS ARE OURS FOR FREE!

Several years ago, when I was still Governor of North Cotabato, I met a top official of the agriculture department in the Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila who, knowing of my advocacy for rubber tree farming, asked me how long it would take before the rubber tree could be productive.

When I told him that it would be a wait of about four to five years from the day of planting, he immediately replied that it would not be an attractive project for him because he would already be out of office by the time the rubber tree farming project would have its impact.

“Ang tagal pala. Wala na ako sa puesto noon,” he said.

I was amused by his seemingly innocent statement but at the same time I was sad because what he said reflected the pitiful state of the Philippine development agenda.

Most Philippine political leaders initiate programs and projects which they believe will have its greatest impact on voters and gain them the much-needed votes on election day which comes every three years.

It is because of this mindset that we see such projects as Operation Tuli, waiting sheds, green multicabs, basketball courts, the seasonal feeding program and the huge colored tarpaulins which announce all of their so-called accomplishments.

In the years that I was involved in governance, I tried my best to steer clear of the pitfalls of myopic or shortsighted development perspective.

I took the courage of dreaming of an airport which is now coming to fruition, I invested heavily in Oil Palm and Rubber Tree farming, focused on the creation of jobs, in starting an ambitious secondary health insurance program in North Cotabato and most of all in providing education to the children of my province.

I was never tempted to change the course of my development mindset. I will never be tempted to stray to the wrong path of governance by undertaking Operation Tuli or give out rice or money during election time.

The results of this approach in governance were dramatic: undeveloped farm lands became productive as we opened up more farm to market roads, people found jobs as investors like Dole Stanfilco and AJMR Sumitomo invested in the province and many poor families crossed the poverty threshold because their children were educated and found lucrative employment.

The greatest indicator of improvement in North Cotabato was the reduction of the Poverty Incidence Per Family which was recorded by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) in 1998 at 52% to only 22% in 2007 when my term as Governor ended.

As I prepare for a possible return to the Governorship, I have once again lined up visionary projects for the people of North Cotabato which may take years to implement but which I am determined to see through their realization.

These long-term projects include:

1. Provincial Government owned Hydropower Projects to provide an answer once and for all to the debilitating brown-outs affecting business in North Cotabato and also generate revenues for the provincial govt. I believe that when realized North Cotabato will be the first LGU to operate a hydro-power generation project.

2. Huge Water Reservoirs with filtration facilities for the low-lying towns of Midsayap, Pigcawayan, Libungan, Alamada, Aleosan and Pikit in the other side of the province and the towns of M’lang, Tulunan, Matalam and Kabacan. This will provide safe and potable water supply to these towns.

3. Establishment of an Annex Campus of the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) in the Pigcawayan/Libungan boundaries for the PALMA area.

4. Establishment of Provincial District Hospitals in the towns of Pigcawayan, Banisilan and Arakan to make health services accessible to the residents of these remote areas.

5. Establishment of 20,000 hectares of a provincial govt.-owned Oil Palm and Rubber Tree Corporate plantations to provide jobs for the local people and generate revenues for the provincial government to finance its ambitious projects.

6. Establishment of the North Cotabato OFWs Agro-Industrial Investments Program where our young people working abroad will be asked to be the partners of the provincial government in such investments as Oil Palm or Rubber Tree plantations to make sure that their earnings will not be lost and at the same time open up more jobs for the people of the province.

7. Establishment of the North Cotabato Farmers’ and Drivers’ Pension Funds to ensure that they too will have a blanket of financial protection when they grow old and could no longer work. This program in social security is patterned after many successful models including that of Hongkong.

8. Establishment of the Education For All Program where every child of poor families will be given the opportunity to go to college and the implementation of the Doktor Ng Bayan program where 10 bright children of poor families will be sent to the medical school to become doctors and serve the people of North Cotabato for five years. The education program will also include computer learning starting from the elementary grades under the Komputech sa Kada Barangay program.

9. Implementation of the “Pagmamahal sa Magulang” program where all poor elderly and senior citizens will be provided with medical care in hospitals owned by the provincial government for free and the establishment of the “Pagmamahal sa Magulang” retirement center where abandoned and childless elderly will be taken care of.

10. Implementation of a comprehensive and sustainable livelihood programs, like hog-raising and halal chicken production, and the intensification of the Plant-Now-Pay-Later Program for rubber and oil palm which would serve two purposes: reforestation and erosion prevention and income and job generation.

11. Establishment of meat processing facilities and halal chicken dressing plant beside the M’lang Central Mindanao Airport to support the provincial livelihood programs which would be focused on hog raising and halal chicken production.

12. Establishment of the North Cotabato Farmers’ Market in major metropolitan areas in the country like Cebu City, Metro Manila and Baguio City to serve as the outlets of the products of North Cotabato farmers, especially fruits grown in the province which could be shipped through the airport.

There will be other innovations in governance along the way and all these measures will depend on what the situation in a specific period will present.

Again, some people may scoff at these projects and brand these are overly ambitious.

Given a chance to serve the province again, I will implement these programs because I believe that these are the programs that our people need.

These visionary programs and projects, unlike the green umbrellas, slippers, 3 kilos of rice and money given during election time, the green multi-cabs and the covered courts, are what I believe will propel North Cotabato to achieving the goal of becoming a better place for our people to live in.

Yes, I aim to fly high and dream big.

Come to thinks of this: All of the great achievements of mankind started with what many called a wild and crazy dream.