Talakag, Bukidnon – A vast vegetable production area with an elevation of over 1,400-meters above sea level is being offered by Bukidnon Governor Jose Zubiri as the proposed resettlement site for beneficiaries of “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program” of the Duterte Administration.
On Thursday morning, after spending the night in a small lodging house in Talakag proper, I and the team from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) inspected the prospective “Balik” resettlement area in the town which is part of a declared military reservation.
Accompanied by Talakag Mayor Vergito Factura and farmer leader Ryan Daño, the MinDA team was briefed on the potentials of the area for food production with the support of government through Farm to Market Roads, small water impounding systems, solar irrigation and vegetable processing and packing facilities.
The Talakag Balik Probinsya Resettlement Village will be designed in the same pattern as the Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte model.
Residents will be introduced to high value vegetable production, including Strawberry farming, with the help of experts from the Cordillera.
The area which was declared a military reservation by Presidential Proclamation 134 in 1963 by President Diosdado Macapagal straddles in the boundaries of several towns of Bukidnon, including Wao, Lanao del Sur.
It was Gov. Zubiri who suggested that returning residents of the province from the congested urban centers are resettled in the area to turn the vast land into production areas for high value vegetable.
The Governor, admired by many for his pro-active and innovative style of governance, said any resident of the province who would like to come home for good must contribute to the productivity of the province.
“They have to work and become productive members of our province,” the Governor told me when I called on him three weeks ago as we introduced the “Balik Probinsya” program which is being pushed by Sen. Christopher Lawrence Go and supported by President Rody Duterte.
The program aims to shift development efforts in the countryside while at the same time decongesting the urban centers of informal settlers.
MinDA has already identified four resettlement areas, including the Talakag Village, in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte and Bukidnon.
Next week, the MinDA team will revisit Zamboanga del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Surigao del Norte and Sur, Davao Del Sur and Agusan del Norte which are among the Mindanao provinces with huge numbers of residents who would like to come home from Metro Manila under the “Balik Probinsya” Program.
(Photos were taken by the MinDA Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao Media Team while the map of Talakag was downloaded from wikipedia.)
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