There is a story about three engineers – American, Japanese and Filipino – who bragged about how fast they could repair damaged roads.
The American said they could repair damaged roads in a week while the Japanese said they could do it overnight.
The Filipino engineer said it is faster in the Philippines because it involves foresight and forward thinking.
“Sa amin sa Pilipinas, hindi pa sira ang kalsada, binabakbak na namin at sinesemento uli,” the Filipino engineer said.
Both the American and the Japanese engineers turned pale and fainted.
Kwento lang yan, pampatawa but the truth is it is happening on the ground.
This is a perfect example of how a well-intentioned program of government could turn awry in the implementation phase on the ground.
I travel a lot, around the country when I was Agriculture Secretary and now in Mindanao as MinDA Chairman, and I see this.
Concrete highways which are still in good shape and could still be used for the next five years are being excavated and repaved.
Remote and isolated national highways seldom used are widened to four lanes or sometimes six lanes.
In one Cabinet meeting, I told Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar of a portion of the Davao-Cotabato road in Santa Cruz, Davao Del Sur where the six-lane road widening included the concreting of portions of the highway with standing electric posts.
The blame for this misguided implementation of this strategic national government program is on the planners and implementors on the ground.
This is the reason why when Senator Christopher Lawrence Go proposed the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program which was immediately implemented by President Rody Duterte with the signing of an Executive Order, I, as Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), immediately supported it.
Kung sa Poker pa ito, “All In” kaagad ako unang flop pa lang.
The “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa” Program will now shift the focus of our planners to rural development and this is what I have been dreaming of for so long.
Instead of excavating, repaving and widening still usable national highways, I propose that the national backlog of about 12,000 kilometers of Farm to Market Roads should be funded and constructed.
With the decongestion of the urban centers, there would be less traffic and funding for the very expensive skyways could be rechanneled to building small bridges connecting food production areas to the market.
This would facilitate the transport of farmers and fishermen’s produce to the market and increase productivity and economic activity in the countryside.
Instead of allocating huge funds to address overpopulation in the urban centers, more money should be spent for water management and conservation projects in the rural areas and for small irrigation systems, including the Solar Powered Irrigation System.
Instead of spending billions to subsidize 4Ps beneficiaries, especially those living in the urban centers, the funds should be used to help them produce food in the countryside under the Balik Probinsya program.
The COVID 19 has bared the reality that food is the most important commodity in times of crisis and we cannot expect to grow food in the urban centers in commercial quantity.
Believe me, Urban Gardening is just a diversion and maybe a source of vegetables enough for the family.
Food production for national security will always be in the countryside.
The “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program” of Sen. Go could be the beginning of the change in the mindset of our economic planners.
For quick economic recovery and real food security, let us focus vital government funds and resources to the countryside.
“Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa” will be our template.
(The first three photos were downloaded from public websites while the last two photos were taken by the DA Biyaheng Bukid team.)
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