By Manny Piñol
The text message I received early Tuesday morning from my older brother, retired police colonel Patricio, was in bold letters and I knew he was angry.
“DO NOT BE HARDHEADED. IM’ ORDERING YOU TO GO BACK TO THE HOSPITAL. PNEUMONIA COULD KILL YOU,” my kuya Pat screamed in his text message.
I was really scheduled to fly back to Davao City last Tuesday to take a few days of hospital rest following a 3-day bout with pneumonia.
Feeling better and my body temperature back to normal, I decided to stay one more day in the office just to sign important documents.
I did not regret going to the office that day because it proved to be a very happy and fulfilling day for me.
While in the middle of a meeting with fellow workers in the Dept. of Agriculture, the office staff handed me a note saying that two farmers from Bataan were asking if they could see me.
Knowing the distance between Bataan and Quezon City, I thought the two farmers’ purpose would be very important.
Rene Santos and Enrique Antonio of the Hermosa Bataan Eagle Farmers Association (HBEFA) when ushered into my office gave me a bundle of documents which turned out to be letters and resolutions asking for 15 units of shallow tube wells for their rice farms.
They said that their request for the STWs was made in 2014 but that their group was only given two units out of the 15 that they needed in the group’s estimated 100 hectare area in Barangay Pulo, Hermosa, Bataan.
I looked at their sunburned faces and I thought I saw eyes which were pleading for what they have been asking for over the last two years.
Immediately, I called up the Region III director and asked if there were there STWs available for distribution and when he said yes, I told the two farmers to bring their documents with an attached note which I signed to the regional office so they could get the water pumps.
I asked the two whether their association needed a tractor. When they said yes, I told them that I would have their area inspected and validated through geo-tagging and I would allocate one unit of tractor for them.
In 10-minutes, we were done and I brought them to the guest receiving area of the Office of the Secretary which is used for formal meetings with Ambassadors and other dignitaries and together we posed for a souvenir photo.
“Tuwang-tuwa talaga kami nang malaman namin agad na-approved na ang request namin,” Santos said.
“Sampung minuto lang tapos na ang paghihintay namin ng dalawang taon,” he told the DA information officers who later interviewed them.
“Nag-try lang uli kami na magsend ng request kasi nakita namin na kailangan ng mga magsasaka namin,” Santos said.
“Water pumps lang hiningi namin pero nabigyan pa kami ng traktora,” Santos joyfully told the DA staff who interviewed them.
If the Bataan farmers were happy with what they got, I was actually overjoyed by the thought that government was able to touch the lives of the poor and neglected farmers.
This is the kind of government that President Rody Duterte promised the Filipino people and it is a promise which will be fulfilled by us who have been chosen to deliver the commitment.
It is moments like this in my life as a public servant which inspires and strengthens me and I know my brother will understand that I was not able to obey his order.
You couldn’t find happiness everyday.
(Photo of the two farmers taken by DA-AFID)
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