Raised in poverty and simple life, I and my brothers have never really been whiners who complained about what we did not have and coveted the luxuries other children enjoyed.
We knew that our parents, both public school teachers, were not earning much. In fact, when we were growing up and starting to go to college, we saw how our father and mother alternately travelled long hours to Davao City to apply for salary loans with the Government Service Insurance System.
This reality moulded our personalities as individuals. We were happy with what we had – two pairs of pants, two t-shirts and two briefs.
Our expense money, if there was any at all, was not even enough to buy a bottle of Coke for our crushes.
We were never tempted to steal from others just to fill up what it was that we needed.
We lived by the adage “Kung ano lang ang meron, pagkasyahin.”
We survived and we are where we are now.
Why am I telling you this story?
It is because recent developments, in my 9-month stint as Secretary of Agriculture, have prompted a change in my character.
For the first time in my life, I will complain about what I may not have and this is not for me at all but the Filipino farmers and fishermen.
Last year, the budget of the Dept. of Agriculture and Fisheries was cut by about P4-B and when I was asked about it, I even helped justify that by saying that since the fund utilisation was low, the Financial Managers decided to trim down the budget for 2017.
I proposed a program for Rice Sufficiency called RIPE or Rice Productivity Enhancement Program which proposed a three-year budget of about P50-B to produce enough rice for the country so that we do not have to import anymore.
The RIPE program was thrashed by the Financial Managers.
Following the trips to China and Japan where President Rody Duterte was able to obtain commitments for loans to include the agriculture sector, I submitted proposals for the inclusion of a 5-year Farm to Market Road Program to be included in the China Loan Package which would complete the remaining 3,500-kilometers of Farm to Market Roads and a National Agriculture Mechannization Program to be negotiated with Japan.
Without even consulting me, the proposals were deleted and described as “too expensive.” I was hurt but true to my character, I just kept silent.
But the last straw came last week, as the officials of the DAF started working with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to craft the National Expenditure Program for Agriculture and Fisheries for 2018, expressed concern over the way our proposals were handled.
They told me that there would be a further reduction in the budget of the Department and the programs that we are proposing may not be given enough budget.
Now, I will raise hell.
The time has come for the farmers and fishermen of this country to demand what is rightfully theirs – a fair share of the national budget for them to be able to wiggle out of poverty and produce food for this country.
For 2017, the Agriculture and Fisheries Department only received a budget of P46-B.
Compare that to the almost P700-B of the education sector or the estimated P600-B of Public Works and Highways.
The P46-B, which may even be reduced in 2018, is even smaller than the budget for the 4Ps program which gives out financial subsidy to the poor families of this country in the amount of P54-B for 2017.
I will no longer be silent. I will have to argue with the Financial Managers that if this country would like to achieve inclusive national growth, investments must be made in the agriculture and fisheries sectors.
I will have to point out to them that if we are to reduce the National Poverty Level from 26% to the targeted 17% by the end of the term of President Duterte, the formula is not to give dole-outs to the poor but to provide payable financing to farmers and fishermen.
On Monday, I will seek the support of my strongest ally in this advocacy for greater spending for Rural Development, President Duterte, who has been advocating for the decentralisation of government and governance.
Foolish as it may look like but I am willing to fight the windmills, who this time are not the imagined Giants, but the financial managers who have always considered agricultural and fisheries investments as expensive adventures and a waste of government money.
The national pie belongs to us all and it should be shared fairly.
I will fight to get the fair and just share of the farmers and fishermen of that pie and I am ready to go the full 12 rounds.
(Image of Don Quixote fighting the windmills downloaded from public website pin interest.)
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