By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
President-elect Donald Trump of the U.S. has an avowed policy that is unsettling to many TNT Filipinos in America that number about 350,000 according to the Phil ambassador to the land of Uncle Sam, Jose Romualdez. That’s worrisome.
The priority though to be deported are illegal immigrants with criminal records and those suspected of being terrorists. I don’t know if this is something that even remotely lessens the possibility of those kababayans who have remained illegal despite their relatively long stay in that land where about 12 school kids out of 100,000 are gunned down every year right in their classrooms.
Their prolonged illegal status are sometimes, according to ambassador Romualdez, due to their own procrastination habit, or bahala na attitude.
I was talking to somebody from Benguet last week about such Trump’s foreboding policy of mass deportation. He has a relative in the U.S. who is already more than 7 years there, currently employed, but still has no legal status of his stay. He is worried of course.
According to some analysts in the USA, the mass deportation policy will harm companies in the US, resulting to factory closures and downsizing. If that is so, the policy could hit hard at the economy of the U.S. This, plus given the perceived love (kuno) of Donald Trump to Filipinos, and of course the known work ethics of most of them, could make them the least priority to be eased out.
Ambassador Romualdez however, is advising our concerned kababayans to just voluntarily go home, instead of being deported, in order not to jeopardize their possible return to the U.S. as a legal/properly documented persons. Fair enough.
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Cheaper rice will become available in many outlets throughout the Philippines within this January, 2025 according to the DA. Good news?
They have invented two classifications of rice that will be available in the market. One is sulit rice, that will be priced PhP35-36.00/kilo. The other is nutri rice which will be costing PhP37-38.00/kilo. They explained that sulit rice have broken grains while the nutria rice are whole grains that is supposed to be more nutritious. The latter is also the main classification under the rice-for-all program.
I don’t understand why they need to invent such classification. It does not add even a kilo to our local produce, nor provide some solution to our perennial rice problem. What is clear is that the sulit and the nutri types are appended to the imported rice, and not what our farmers produce.
Since 2010, we have the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund Loan Program intended to help small-scale farmers and fishers and their coops and associations. This is being administered by Land Bank.
To me, the subject loan facility is substantial and the interest is quite low at 6% per annum (originally though, it was only 2%). If the borrower is an association, they can apply for a maximum of PhP5.O M; if individual, a maximum of PhP 1 M. The big question is: “Is it helping the intended beneficiaries?”.
For the answer, one can just ask the Land Bank how many of those targeted farmers have availed of the loan facility! Very few actually dared to take advantage of it. Why? The DA perhaps should study it- although I know that they know why a long time ago.
But let say here what the DA know all along. Farmers have very little handholding and many of them are unschooled about complying with the requirements. Unfortunately, it appears that this is not given much considerations by the implementors. Farmers should be provided extended assistance on this.
The result is that the borrowers are those mainly with means. That is, the already made individuals or company.
In my recent visits to municipal agriculture offices in more than 40 municipalities in Panay island, I found out that about 50% of the MAs are not hands-on or not very familiar with the various agriculture enhancement programs for rice and corn in their towns. Or, they just don’t care? They say, they are just allowing those rice focal persons to mainly run the show. Some do not even follow the protocols that the Regional offices have told them to do.
Maybe this is because the MAOs are not directly under the regional offices. This is one of the grey areas that was not studied well when the devolution became the order of the day.
Now, Asec Arnel De Mesa, DA spokesperson, mentioned that ACEF credit program is temporarily suspended due to thousands of farmers defaulting on their loans. This will never have happened if only the Regional offices, the MAs, the farmer associations, and cooperatives work closely together. The farmers will certainly be able to benefit better from the programs developed and intended for them with such close cooperation.
Is the age old practice of dole outs in helping the farmers have also made them feel not so obliged to pay back their loans?**
