‘Teach Them To Fish!’ CASH, FOOD AID, SUBSIDY OR EASY ACCESS CREDIT?

“Ang pagbibigay ng cash aid, food assistance at subsidiya sa mga mahihirap ay gawain ng mga tamad sa gobyerno na ayaw ng mag-isip ng pangmatagalang lunas sa kahirapan ng mga mamayan.”- Sec. Emmanuel Piñol, PhD, Chairman, Mindanao Development Authority, Jan. 10, 2021.

(The cash aid, food assistance and subsidy programs for the poor are the work of lazy government men who do not want to think of sustainable and long-lasting solutions to the poverty of the people.)

Helping the country’s poor is simply a choice between people empowerment and self reliance or aid-dependence and mendicancy.

Recently, I saw photos of farmers and fishermen lining up for a P5,000 cash assistance and food aid distributed by some government officials who proudly declared that the program involved billions of pesos in government funds.

Para sa akin, isang malaking insulto at sampal sa mga magsasaka at mangingisda ang mga programang ito.

Can you imagine the food producers of the country being given food by government so they could eat?

At saan dadalhin ang P5,000 cash assistance na ipinamimigay sa mga magsasakang’ merong hindi hihigit sa dalawang ektaryang lupa?

Our greatest problem in our efforts to address poverty is not having a clear and definitive policy on how to help the poor.

There are just two choices.

First, there is the philosophy of empowerment and self-reliance, a thinking promoted centuries ago by philosopher Lao Tzu who said: “Give man fish today and he will not go hungry for one day; Teach him how to fish and he will not go hungry for the rest of his life.

Then there is the concept of charity where government just gives out food, cash and other support for free to help the poor, a policy which actually promotes mendicancy and is a perfect example of a corrupt leadership which believes in the principle that “To Rule Forever, You Have To Keep Your People Poor.”

I have long embraced the philosophy of Self-Reliance and Empowerment and this could be gleaned in the programs which I implemented as early as the years when I was Mayor and then Governor of North Cotabato.

Among these programs were: Study Now Pay Later, Plow-Now-Pay-Later, Fly-Now-Pay-Later (for OFWs), Plant-Now-Pay-Later and the Economic Enterprise Programs which extended No-Interest Loans to working women.

When I was appointed Secretary of Agriculture, I designed the Survival and Recovery Loaning Program (SURE), the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program, the Agriculture and Fisheries Machinery and Equipment (AFME) loaning program and the ill-fated Fertilizer Loaning Program which was supposed to be a private-sector but DA assisted initiative.

Many technocrats raise eyebrows and frown on the loaning programs saying that many farmers do not pay back their loans.

This was proven wrong by Igorot vegetable farmers who paid back 100% on their initial P40-M PLEA loan.

Assuming, however, that the technocrats are right in saying that many of the farmers, fishermen and poor people do not pay back their loans, I believe easy access credit is still the best option.

Come to think of this:

With a 50% repayment rate, government will be able to recover 50% of its investments which if given out in the form of Cash Aid, Subsidy and Food Assistance will have Zero Recovery.

Ano ang mas maganda? Yong may maibabalik na pera na puedeng paikutin o yong taon-taon, bilyon-bilyon ang winawaldas (at kinukupitan) at wala ng balik?

Ganyan lang naman sana ka simple yan but sometimes simplest ideas are the most difficult to understand especially when people in government are lazy even just to think.

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

#CharityBreedsMendicacy!

(Photos of food assistance distribution to fishermen in the Visayas were downloaded from the Facebook page UMA Ilonggo. Credit to the Owner.)