Early tomorrow, I and a few staff will set off on a long journey targeting at least five provinces in Mindanao to identify pilot areas for the “Balik Probinsya, Balik Pag-asa Program (BPBPP) proposed by Senator Christopher Lawrence Go and supported by President Rody Duterte.
This is in compliance with the task assigned to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) by Sen. Go, the lead convenor, and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea during the last ZOOM meeting of heads of agencies involved in the BPBPP, to establish the first models of the resettlement communities.
Our first destination is Zamboanga del Norte where Governor Roberto Uy will listen to the MinDA presentation of a proposed BPBPP rural settlement in his province for residents who are now living in cramped places in the urban centers.
Then, I will drive down to Lanao del Norte, Bukidnon and back to North Cotabato where we hope to engage the Governors to partner with the BPBPP for the establishment of rural settlements for returning urban dwellers.
This effort will be guided by the policy set during the last ZOOM meeting which defines that BPBPP means Return to Home Province.
This means that those who will be identified as beneficiaries of the BPBPP in Zamboanga del Norte will only be former residents of the province who would like to go home.
The first model of the BPBPP resettlement community should have a common undertaking or activity with a complete value chain.
Should the community choose hog raising or poultry raising, the activity should start from the breeding for distribution to the beneficiary-families, feed making, common growing facility, processing and marketing.
The ideal community size is 200 families with housing to be shouldered by National Housing Authority, subsistence support by Department of Social Welfare and Development, funding for structure and hog breeding materials by the Department of Agriculture while MinDA will handle social preparation, linkage with LGUs and linkage with marketing.
Using this model, other BPBPP Resettlement Communities could also be involved the following livelihood activities: 1.) broiler production; 2.) egg layer production; 3.) free range chicken production; 4.) fish cage production; 5.) vegetable production; 6.) strawberry production; 7.) sardines canning and dried fish making.
Another program will also be designed for Tree Farming based on the MinDA Green Mindanao Project Concept where beneficiaries will be given stewardship to a piece of government land where they will plant industrial trees alongside Coffee, Cacao and Black Pepper and raise chicken and livestock.
Still another model involving a corporate entity which will establish a facility to provide employment to BPBPP beneficiaries will also be designed.
MinDA will submit its recommendations on the BPBPP Model Rural Resettlements to the Inter-Agency Group headed by ES Medialdea by Friday this week.
(Image shows the original diagram which led to establishment of the Israeli Kibbutz which could serve as a model for the BPBPP. All photos were downloaded from public websites.)
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