AMIN: Wiping out rice imports by 2013 can be done!

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The Anak Mindanao (AMIN) party-list today urged the government to focus its effort in strengthening rice production in Mindanao if it is really determined in wiping out rice imports by 2013.

Although several agricultural experts say that this is an impossible task, AMIN believes otherwise.

“The Philippines is maybe facing an uphill climb in its effort to wipe out rice imports by 2013, but this can be done. The government only have to focus its attention in developing the vast agricultural areas of the country, particularly Mindanao and strengthen the island’s rice production,” said AMIN Rep. Ariel C. Hernandez.

AMIN strongly believes in the capacity of Mindanao to answer the Philippines’ rice needs, considering that Mindanao is now considered as the Philippines’ food basket, accounting for 40 percent of the country’s total agricultural production.

“Compared to other areas of the Philippines, Mindanao also has the most fertile soil in the country. Most of its areas are also shielded from storms that devastate farms in other parts of the country,” AMIN’s first nominee, Rep. Hernandez said.

Mindanao’s rice production is 23 percent of the Philippines’ total output, the highest among the rice producing areas of the country, according to the International Rice Research Institute. Aside from this, Mindanao is also a top producer of other agricultural products like copra, corn and banana.

“With all these statistics pointing us toward Mindanao, it is only reasonable that government must focus on boosting Mindanao’s agriculture. We in AMIN have for a long time been advocating and demanding for Mindanao’s rightful and equitable share of the country’s finances which we can use to develop our island. It is now high time that government heed our call,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez reiterated the dreams of all Mindanawons for the island to get its equal and rightful share of the country’s wealth, which he said will greatly impact on the island’s march towards sustainable development.

“While there is clearly a bias against Mindanao in the sharing of the national wealth, and while we continue to advocate and urged our national leaders to give Mindanao its rightful and equal share of this wealth, we also have to move on our own and not wait for Manila to heed our calls; we have to do our best to make our island economically viable for investors and businesses,” he said.

AMIN, a true Mindanawon party-list group established to advance the dreams and aspirations of all Mindanawons here and abroad, is seeking to reclaim its seat in Congress in the May 10, 2010 synchronized elections.

AMIN is number 81 in the official ballot.

One of AMIN’s objectives is food security through sustainable agricultural productivity.

“One way of sustaining the productivity of the agriculture sector is empowering farmers and other agricultural workers so that they will profit from all their efforts and endeavors. In this way, we are assured of a stable supply of our basic food which will eventually make us become independent from other countries, which ironically, have overtaken us after learning from us the science of increasing agricultural productivity,” Hernandez said.

AMIN’s Hernandez said that government must take the lead but he encourage all other sectors, particularly the agriculture sector to all initiate reforms and practices that can sustain the sector in the midst of climate change and global warming.

He said one of the ways to shield the sector from the effects of El Niño is water impoundment and rain water collection, which can be used to irrigate ricefields and water farms.

PHILIP JAMES MONGAYA TREMEDALCALL OR TEXT ME : E-MAIL ME : pjtremedal@gmail.comvisit my website: www.mindanao on-line.tk

"Red scare tactics and witch-hunting" against progressive candidates denounced by Maza

MAKABAYAN Coalition and Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate Liza Maza condemned what she called a "systematic red scare and witch-hunting campaign" against progressive candidates as the run-up towards the May 2010 elections heats up.

"They try to rehash the old McCarthyist witch-hunting during the Cold War of the 50's-60's in the US, as well as the failed martial law tactics of the 70's-80's, to implicate progressive groups and candidates with the CPP, the NPA and the NDF. This is a desperate move and does not respond to present realities,” Maza said in a press conference on Saturday.

“They tried to use red-scare when we first ran in 2001, but Bayan Muna got more than a million votes. They did it again in the 2004 elections, and three progressive party-lists branded as "red" won with close to two million votes. Again, they repeated the same tactics in the 2007 elections, and close to three million voters elected four progressive party-lists with eight representatives in Congress," Maza pointed out.

Maza said that she, fellow candidate Satur Ocampo and party-lists Gabriela, Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Kabataan, ACT and Katribu have been experiencing massive vilification and hate campaign all over the country, in which documented cases point to state and non-state actors – military and para-military forces, government and "civil society" groups – as perpetrators.

"Such is a desperate move of Arroyo and those who want to replace her with a yellow crowd. As history has taught us, only the big landlords and compradors can benefit from a hyped anti-communist hysteria. The people need genuine change and the only way for that to happen is to end Arroyo and foil state terrorism," Maza said.

Maza cited instances of vilification and hate campaign such as her and Ocampo’s campaign posters being vandalized with anti-communists slogans. This happened in different cities in the National Capital Region as well as in different provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

In Davao City, members of the 69th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army actively campaign in schools and universities against progressive candidates, telling students not to vote for them in the coming elections. In South Cotabato, the 27th IBPA has been airing smear campaign against the progressive groups over radio, and has been conducting meetings in barrios showing documentary films portraying progressive party-lists, Maza and Ocampo as members and supporters of CPP and NPA since January.

The fisherfolk group Pamalakaya reported that the military in Sorsogon are conducting house-to-house campaign in the province calling on all voters not to vote for militant party-lists and candidates. On February 26, volunteers of Makabayan Coalition who are supposed to deliver campaign materials to Masbate from Sorsogon were harassed by four soldiers armed with high powered rifles.

Individuals and groups supporting Maza and Ocampo’s senatorial bids were also assaulted, intimidated, harassed, slapped with trumped up charges, abducted and illegally detained. Re-electionist town councilor Fernando Baldomero, who is a Bayan Muna provincial coordinator in Aklan and is campaigning for senatorial candidates Liza Maza and Satur Ocampo, survived a grenade lobbed at his house by two motorcycle-riding men in Aklan.

Local bets supporting the Makabayan senatorial bets has also been receiving "poison letters and death threats."

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AFP Chief Gen. Bangit: Military junta option is political 'suicide'

MANILA, April 22 -- Armed Forces chief of staff General Delfin N. Bangit on Thursday reiterated his commitment for credible elections and exhorted AFP Major Service Commanders, and other top brasses to stand by the Constitution.

“I am for the Constitution,” he declared in a command conference the other day as he sought to dispell rumors of military junta. He stressed: “(A) junta is never on our list of things to do. There is no junta, there will never be. Junta is contrary to good judgment. It is suicide."

"Our claim to honor and dignity is not through a leadership where we will be the ones who will decide for our people. Our claim to honor and dignity is our ability to act as on in order to protect our people. Listen to the call of the times. It calls on us to stand firm for our people and not claim to be the voice of the people,” added Bangit.

Talks of supposed military plan to put up a junta had been swirling for the past weeks. The latest allegation was fanned early this week by civil society group leader Pastor Boy Saycon, a supporter of presidential bet Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Bangit called on his men to focus on the most essential aspect at this point and to stand resilient against the many attempts to divide the organization.

“We should move on. There is a concern bigger than appointments – and that is, the upcoming elections, and the rumored military junta being insinuated by some groups. Politics is not what we have worked for in our entire career. Politicians come and go. Even as they do, we stay. Our enemies before are still our enemies today. We know how hard our enemies work to break the unity and integrity that has kept us unbeatable,” said Bangit.


He also exhorted his men to stand firm , saying "to you who are with me in our stand for the Constitution; to you who are with me in our stand against revolutionary government or junta: Labanan natin (let us fight together side by side) because this is clearly unconstitutional.”

Bangit cited the importance of AFP professionalism especially in the coming elections. “The outcome of this elections is a make or break for the AFP. It is also a deciding point for our country,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a letter dated April 21, 2010, Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer wrote a formal communication to Bangit to refute having attended a meeting with Aquino or with any other political candidate.

“I am dismayed that my name was dragged into such an issue that is obviously fed information designed to portray disunity in our organization”, the letter said.

Additionally, Ferrer assured his loyalty to the military organization under Gen. Bangit’s leadership, and referred this allegiance as “greater than my personal feelings”.
“I am not disgruntled or else I would have resigned my position and damned the institution to my heart’s content.”

The AFP had been time and again hounded with rumors of polarization and partisanship.

“Recently, there had been renewed efforts to 'fragmentize' the AFP through proliferation of stories on alleged disgruntlement of some AFP officers. We dismiss these rumors as efforts by some groups or individuals with personal and vested interests whose ultimate objective is far from good,” said AFP Civil Relations Service chief Brig. Gen. Francisco N Cruz.

The AFP appeals to these self-interest groups busily propagating discord to stop these schemes and allow the military organization to focus on its mandate and on its mission for the sake of the Filipino people. This is to include providing a secured environment for the voters and for the smooth transport of election materials.

“We are confident, that through the COMELEC and its Joint Security Control Center, the PNP’s and AFP’s Task Force HOPE, the Zeñarosa Commission, and all the election watchdogs could work together to ensure a peaceful and credible election,” said Cruz

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6,055 Mindanao highlanders benefit from gov’t anti-poverty programs

BAYUGAN CITY, Agusan del Sur, April 22 - At least 6,055 indigenous people (IPs) in Mindanao benefited from agri-business opportunities and capacity building activities by the Department of Agriculture (DA) through its Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD).

A statement released by DA and Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) said IP beneficiaries comprise 43 percent of the 14,185 total beneficiaries of CFAD.

The DA-MRDP also reported that among the IPs, 2,640 were female and 3,415 were male.

This statistical record came out after a Mindanao-wide World Bank (WB) review mission of the DA's five-year program.

Most of the beneficiaries were from Northeastern Mindanao Caraga region (8 percent); Region 10 (28 percent); Region 11 (26 percent); Region 12 (22 percent); Autonomus Region in Muslim Mindanao (10 percent); and Region 9 (7 percent).

Among the tribes which received the assistance were Ata Manobo, Mansaka, Teduray, T'boli, Subanen, and Higaonon from Northern Mindanao and Agusan provinces, the DA-MRDP report said.

These beneficiaries are engaged in production of high value crops like banana, vegetables, peanuts and fruits, cattle production and swine breeding, while other groups received farm implements.

The DA-MRDP statement said IPs are the majority beneficiaries of the livelihood projects of the anti-poverty program of the DA in Mindanao.

MRDP, now on its second phase, is a multi-million program jointly funded by the World Bank, the National government and the local government units.

For five years, the program has allotted close to U.S.$ 30 million for its livelihood component, the CFAD.

CFAD is a community driven development where the people themselves identify their own project based on the available resources of the community and skills of their members. This allows poor communities to take part in the decision-making process, establishing a sense of ownership and generating high level of participation.

"Empowering the marginalized sector through agribusiness activities expands the strength of rural economy since agriculture as is said as the mainstay of economic activities in rural areas," said DA-MRDP official Lealyn A. Ramos.

Ramos added that the program has exceeded its IP target beneficiaries. CFAD sets to target only 35 percent IPs among its beneficiaries.

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Climate change is a test of leadership - Legarda

On Earth Day, NP-NPC-LDP vice presidential bet Loren Legarda challenged the country’s local and national officials to show leadership in addressing the ill effects of climate change – stronger typhoons, heavier rains and more devastating droughts.

“Given the urgency posed by climate change, decisive action needs to be taken now from the national down to the grassroots level. Earth Day is a reminder of that,” said Legarda, lamenting on the vulnerability of poor rural families dependent on rain-fed agriculture to the long hot summer brought about by El Nino.

The total damage to agriculture reported as of February 8 included P1.05 billion worth of corn, P343 million worth of rice and P1.39 million worth of high-value crops.

Legarda adds, “Poor and indebted households have little or no surplus capacity to absorb crop losses and to recover. But what we can do is implement measures to help them avert or minimize these losses – an agricultural adaptation program that will ensure more investments in agricultural research and infrastructure, improved water governance and land use policies, better forecasting tools and early warning systems and a strengthened extension system that will assist farmers to achieve economic diversification and access to credit.”

“Disasters have been a fact of life for Filipinos but we must also realize the fact that we ourselves, especially our decision and policy-makers, shape disaster risks in our midst --by the way we change our environment and by the way we choose to live in it,” Legarda stresses.

She likewise challenged the national government to fully translate the Climate Change Act of 2009, a policy integrating climate change in the country’s poverty-reduction strategies, into concrete local actions and measurable gains for the people.

“I urge leaders, especially those running for higher office this May, to reveal their climate change adaptation agenda. And I call on voters to choose leaders who have the vision and the will to take early action on this climate crisis,” Legarda said.

Legarda, principal author and sponsor of the Philippine Climate Change Act of 2009, is the appointed United Nations Regional Champion on Disaster Risk Reduction for Asia and the Pacific and serves as the Chairperson of the Committees on Agriculture and Food, Health and Demography and Climate Change in the Philippine Senate.

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