Returning to Samar ALL HANDS ON DECK TO ATTACK POVERTY

By Manny Piñol

I was in Samar Wednesday to fulfill a promise I made almost two months earlier that I would return to personally lead the movement to confront the poverty bedeviling the island just south of Bicol Peninsula.

What I discovered both scared and inspired me.

I was scared by the challenge of making a difference in the lives of the people of the three provinces of the island – Western Samar, Northern Samar and Eastern Samar – all of which are among the 10 poorest provinces in the country.

Could the administration of President Rody Duterte reduce poverty in a land so rich in resources but where people are very poor?

Eastern Samar which faces the Pacific Ocean has a poverty incidence of 55.4% while Northern and Western Samar have identifical 43.5%.

But I was also inspired by the enthusiasm of the poor Samareños to break free from the shackles of poverty and the willingness of their political leaders to set aside their differences and work together once and for all.

As I sat down with the political leaders and representatives of the farmers and fisherfolk in the upper floor of a small hotel to discuss their concerns and the things that the Department of Agriculture could do, fisherfolk whose lives were devastated by Typhooon Yolanda waited under the drizzle to receive the small fishing boats given out by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

The fiberglass fishing boats, complete with nets, hooks and lines and gasoline-powered engines, had long been fabricated in Leyte by the Typhoon victims themselves but somehow bureaucratic snag delayed the release during the previous administration.

So what were the major moves made during the Samar visit aside from hearing out the problems of the farmers and fisherfolk?

1. The three provincial governments agreed to the organization of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD), a project management group which would assess the problems and weaknesses of the poverty-stricken areas and implement solutions;

2. The LGU leaders agreed with and accepted the new concept of interventions-delivery by the DA where the direct beneficiaries – farmers and fisherfolk – will be personally identified and geo-tagged for a more effective accountability;

3. The LGU leaders agreed to the idea that I and DILG Sec. Mike Sueno discussed earlier that all government agricultural extension workers now directly under the municipal and provincial governments will be detailed back to the Dept. of Agriculture and will be engaged in the massive agri-aqua development works in Samar. They will receive travel allowances and per diems from the DA;

4. With a set target of reducing the island’s poverty incidence by 25% after three years, we all agreed that the focus of the SAAD would be on livelihood projects in agriculture and fisheries and in a family-based agro-forestry program where the poor would immediately be able to earn money;

5. The LGU leaders were made to understand that the DA under President Duterte will undertake an aggressive anti-poverty campaign but that any interference by local officials in the way the projects are implemented as agreed upon would be sufficient reason for the DA to pull out its people from their areas;

6. Samar farmer and fisherfolk leaders were made to understand that they would be held accountable for the misuse and abuse of government assistance given to them and that they would be held criminally liable.

After the very productive morning consultations, over 100 units of motorized-fishing boats were distributed to poor fishing families, all of whom were affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

As the certificates of ownership were given out to them, I saw tears falling from the tanned faces of people who have long waited for a chance to rebuild their lives again.

I assured them that President Duterte will take care of them provided they take care of the help extended to them by government.

Perhaps, what touched them as we parted ways was the assurance I gave them that Wednesday’s meeting would not be our last.

I promised to visit an island off the coast of Catbalogan City where fisherfolk said they would start a dried-fish making project.

Just like before, it is a promise I will keep.

#Changeishere! #PresRodyCares! #DuterteDelivers!

(Photos of Samar engagement by John Pagaduan.)