With the National Government playing deaf and blind to the suffering and hardships of rural communities which do not have the basic infrastructures like farm-to-market roads and bridges, I believe the time has come for the neglected people to seek refuge in the Highest Court of the Land.
I am not a lawyer but in my simple understanding, the neglect of the Rural Communities is a violation of the Bill of Rights, Article III Section 1 which states: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, NOR SHALL ANY PERSON BE DENIED THE EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS.”
The Annual General Appropriations Act (GAA) is a law which allocates and apportions government funds for specific projects and in the case of budget allocation, major highways, center islands, skyways and overhead passes in the urban centers are given gargantuan budgets.
On the other hand, the rural roads and bridges through which the agricultural produce of farmers are brought to the markets had remained neglected until today thus the GAA fails to protect the interest of the rural people.
As of today, more than 10,000 kilometers of critical rural roads and hundreds of small bridges, had not been paved or built to the disadvantage of people in the rural communities.
I am not a lawyer but I believe that this is a perfect example of a transgression of the Constitutional provision which says: “No … person shall be denied the equal protection of the law.”
Well, the GAA does not provide equal protection to people in the rural communities while allocating huge funds for such ridiculous and useless projects as Highway Center Islands complete with Soar Lights.
When I was Secretary of Agriculture, President Rody Duterte agreed to my proposal to complete the construction of then about 12,000 kilometers of Farm to Market Roads.
I proposed then that the backlog should be divided into 6 tranches of 2,000 kilometers so that by the end of the Duterte Presidency, the FMRs in the country would have been completed.
This was, however, thwarted when the very influential Secretary of Finance and head of the Economic Team said that the. Rural Roads and Bridges should just be given regular allocation in the GAA.
Today, as many of our rural farmers still suffer from bad roads or the absence of roads, I. believe the time has come to bring this matter to the Supreme Court questioning the Constitutionality of the annual GAA which does not provide equal protection through the allocation of sufficient budget to infrastructures which serve rural people,
I am willing to lead this crusade and Legal Eagles who believe that the time has come for us to give justice and protection to farmers in the rural areas are invited to join us and support.
If Government does not listen, People must take action and the Supreme Court is our last refuge.
#EqualProtectionOfLaws!
(Image of a very bad farm to market road in Kitatao, Bukidnon was captured from a video posted by Crisalyn Pataganao Marcos while the picture of a Highway Center Island was taken in Davao del Sur.)
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