« Dept. of Agriculture officials meeting with hog industry leaders; deny ban on meat imports | Home | Hog farmers alarmed over ‘very low’ farm gate prices »
Farmers groups thank PGMA, D.A. for support, ask critics to wait for results of D.A. probe
| By pinoyfarmer | September 30, 2008 |  |
A big umbrella group of irrigators’ associations from the country’s top palay-producing province has expressed its continued support for the government’s food security programs being implemented by the Department of Agriculture and has thanked President Arroyo, along with DA Secretary Arthur Yap for providing flatbed dryers for the use of its members this wet or main harvest season.
In a letter to Yap, the Cabanatuan Dreamland Irrigators Association Inc. comprising 17 irrigators’ groups in Nueva Ecija, thanked the President and Yap not only for providing them with flatbed dryers but also for the DA programs that have benefited, and continue to benefit, the farmers in the province.
Meanwhile, other groups have also cited Yap’s swift action of creating a fact-finding panel to pry into the issues raised by the Commission on Audit (COA) over the implementation of certain DA programs, especially at the local level. Yap had committed to deliver the initial results of the probe in two weeks’ time and impose the appropriate penalties and file charges against those found liable for any anomaly.
They have called on all sectors to refrain from prejudging the Department and wait instead for the results of the probe, which the DA is due to announce in a week or two.
The nine-member fact-finding audit committee headed by DA Assistant Secretary Eduardo Nolasco was due to submit its finding last Friday but it had asked for a one-week extension to wrap up its investigation so it could dig deeper into the COA-raised concerns, more so after Yap had assured the public that appropriate action will be taken against guilty parties, including DA officers or employees who cannot disprove the COA charges against them.
Yap is set to release the audit panel’s findings later next week along with the appropriate action to be taken against those who will be found responsible for the COA-cited discrepancies in farm productivity programs being implemented at the field level by local government units through their municipal agricultural officers (MAOs).
“Tinatanaw naming utang na loob at handa po kaming sumuporta sa lahat ng inyong programa sa ngayon at sa hinaharap (We view these initiatives as a debt of gratitude and we are ready to support all your programs being implemented now and those to be carried out in the future),” the association said in its letter.
Nueva Ecija is the Philippines’ premier palay-growing province, harvesting 1.356 million metric tons (MT) of palay in 2007 or 8% of the country’s total production, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).
Farmer-beneficiaries not only in Nueva Ecija but in other parts of the country have been getting flatbed dryers under FIELDS, which is the centerpiece program of the Arroyo administration on food security and sufficiency. FIELDS stands for Fertilizers; Irrigation and other rural infrastructure; Education and extension services for farmers; Loans; Dryers and other postharvest facilities; and Seeds.
Signing the letter of support for the President and Yap were the presidents and chairmen of the various irrigators’ groups in Nueva Ecija, which include Maximo Hernal of the Deepwell Sumulong Irrigators Association; Julio P. Vistan, Kaisiwan IA; Feliciano Lorete, Pilampa IA; Rufino Francisco, Pitak Hilera IA; Victor Hernandez, Rajal Centro IA; Apolinario Pascual, KSSB; Gelacio Pablo Jr., and Imbumar IA.
Also among the heads of irrigators’ groups who signed the manifesto of support were Ambrosio Hernandez, Concention IA; Angelito Bautista, H. Romero IA; Leodegario Dela Cruz, Pugo Sta. Lucia IA; Mamerto T. Javier, San Mariano IA; Angel Bautista, Kaanib sa Patubig; Raymund Diaz, Pantoc IA; Primo Ramos, MBSB Coop; Emiliano Lacanlalay, Sitio Sapang Kubo IA; Roy Santiago, Valiant PMC; and Florencio Pascua, Alisar FST.
Earlier, the country’s governors as well as the umbrella organization of municipal and city agricultural officers nationwide have given their full backing to the separate investigations by the DA and other institutions like Congress and the Office of the Ombudsman into the COA findings.
In a manifesto of support signed by its national officers and regional presidents, the Devolved Agriculturists of the Philippines Inc. (DAPI), lamented that while the COA report clearly showed that the sampling size used by the Commission to draw its conclusions on certain DA programs implemented at the local level was “very small,” it had been made to appear that the discrepancies uncovered were committed on a massive scale.
DAPI represents some 1,700 MAOs, municipal agriculturists (MAs), city agriculturists (CAs), and agricultural technologists (ATs) nationwide.
The organization also stressed in its manifesto that its members remain supportive of the commitment of President Arroyo and the DA under Yap’s leadership to the national goal of providing enough food on the table of every Filipino family and raising farmers’ incomes.
“If the performance of the agriculture sector has remained strong despite these global setbacks, then we believe, in all modesty, that we have done our fair share in helping guarantee the successful implementation of government programs meant to increase farm yields and raise rural incomes,” DAPI’s officers, led by national president Jesusa Noveda, said.
Also, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), led by its national president, Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Leo Ocampos, had similarly relayed the continuing support of local chief executives nationwide behind the farm productivity programs of President Arroyo that are being carried out by the DA under Yap’s leadership. Agriculture Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras said that in an official statement sent to the DA central office, Ocampos had bared that, “”The League fully backs the plan of the DA, Congress and the Office of the
Ombudsman to conduct separate investigations into these programs at the local level being questioned by the Commission on Audit in its 2007 report, in the hope that those responsible for such irregularities could be identified and be made accountable for these discrepancies.”
Through the various programs implemented by DA in partnership with LGUs, the LPP and DAPI noted that Philippine agriculture grew by 4.7% in the first semester of 2008, or higher than the 3.74% rate in the same period last year despite a lingering global food crisis and skyrocketing fuel prices.
Source: Philippine Department of Agriculture
Topics: News & Updates | No Comments »
