Stay Focused! Last Minute Instructions To MinDA Working Group

Yesterday, Oct. 4, one day before the effectivity of my resignation as Chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), I met with the key officers face-to-face and the staff, virtually, to give them my last guidance and directives.

There was pain in my heart as I said goodbye to the hardworking staff of about 160 operating all over Mindanao with a measly P178-M annual budget.

“Political appointees like me come and go but what is important is that we have set a clear direction for MinDA to pursue,” I told the staff.

I emphasized that in the two years and 2 months that I served as Chairman of MinDA, we have set clear directions of where Mindanao should go as we battle the challenges brought about by the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Food Production, Poverty Alleviation, Preserving the Peace Gains and Restarting the Economy Post-COVID 19 remain the clear objectives of MinDA.

I asked the highest ranking officers of MinDA – Undersecretary Janet Lopoz, Asec. Romeo Montenegro, Asec. Cherrylyn Santos-Akbar, Director Charlito Escaño, the Area Management Officers and other directors to pursue the programs which were started.

Among which are:

1. Greening Mindanao Program which aims to boost the protection of Mindanao’s watersheds and headwaters and encourage the planting of high-value fruit trees and bamboos in the uplands and denuded highlands;

2. Mindanao Water Supply Program which aims to provide sources of water both for drinking and irrigation to every village in Mindanao now supported by both the USAID and the Israeli Govt.;

3. Mindanao Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Program which aims to establish Fish Consolidation and Processing Centers in 26 fishing grounds in Mindanao under the EU-Funded program MINPAD RISE;

4. Mindanao Bangus and High-Value Fish Offshore Production program using modern fish-cages;

5. Mindanao Corn Grains Silo Storage System Program which aims to help corn-producing LGUs in establishing a storage and marketing system to protect corn farmers and ensure stable corn supply;

6. Mindanao Sorghum Development Program which aims to introduce the planting of Sorghum for feed grains and silage to support both the livestock and poultry sector;

7. Bangsamoro Halal Beef Production Program which aims to assist the nascent Bangsamoro Government in turning the region in a major source of Halal Beef produced in fattening facilities;

8. Mindanao Vegetable Production Program which aims to develop production of high-value vegetables both for the local and foreign markets;

9. Taraka Rice Industry Development Program which aims to create a template for a “Complete-Value-Chain” rice production using the “Contract Growing Scheme;”

10. Rehabilitation and re-operation of Key Industries like the Pulp and Paper Mill in Bislig City, Surigao del Sur and the Iligan Integrated Steel Mill in Iligan City and other local industries which would create jobs and income opportunities’

11. Implementation of the Bamboo Industry Development Program in 10 River Basins, including the organization of industrial tree farmers all over Mindanao to create complete value chain agro-industrial activities, especially in the Tribal Domain Areas;

12. One-MinDA One-Data Program which aims to inter-link all the provinces of Mindanao through a digital database which facilitate agricultural trading and stabilization of food supplies.

For each of these programs, I asked the remaining MinDA officials to assign a Focal Person to handle the program.

I had to admit during my short meeting with the staff that it took me a long time to decide to vie for a Senate seat as I found the job I had with MinDA as very challenging and the staff I was working with very efficient.

In the end, however, I said that I had to stand up and save Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries from the Anti-Agriculture Policies and Legislations pushed by Neo-Liberal Economists who are more enamored with postive inflation numbers than seeing Fillipinos in the countryside enjoy a better and happy life.

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

#StandingUpForFarmersFishermen!

(Photos by Mayette Tudlas, MinDA OC)