By Anthony A. Araos
Seconds, minutes and hours matter. Time gives one a much deeper perspective. Days after this two-day congress at Haliap, Asipulo, you can think about the future objectively.
From the First Congress to the Second Congress to the Third Congress, there are vast opportunities to discover and journey at finding our strengths.
The First Congress was a good start. The Second Congress added hopes for even a brighter tomorrow. Hopefully, the Third Congress transforms itself as a cornerstone investment.
A cornerstone investment firmly committed to help strengthen solidarity and ensure that public funds truly serve the Ayangan folks.
Yes, there are problems and challenges.
Most Ayangan farmers are poor. Many of them are still engaged in subsistence farming. The problem is that 90 percent of what farmers produce end up in spoilage before it gets to the market because of bad roads, absence of post-harvest facilities and lack of cold storage.
And now, here comes El Niño. Mind you, farmers are already starting to feel the effects of the dry spell on their crops.
Food resources are likely to dwindle. When grain shortage occurs, rice sufficiency slides to a low level. Vegetable production could easily get worse if the dry spell would continue for six months to a year. A prolonged drought thus is a nightmare to farmers who are in the production of cash crops and vegetables.
Not surprisingly, farmers are worried. Adequate water supply is needed.
The construction of water catchment facility may be considered. For sure, cash-starved farmers would be seriously affected unless the provincial and national government could think of sustainable ways to support them.
Most Ifugao folks say there is no solution to this problems. Wrong. The Solution: Swift and decisive action of the national government. For short, these are pressing needs to allocate resources where it matters most since every peso wasted denies our hardworking farmers access to vital social services they rightly deserve.
To deny that underdevelopment is pervasive is to perpetuate the problem rather than solve it.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Ifugao may hopefully make a dent in farming sector woes. But, there are only two full-blooded Ayangan members of this very influential and powerful body. Now, there are those who are loudly seeking for more board members of Ayangan descent. Think that sounds impossible? Wrong.
Like Board Members Peter Bunnag of Alfonso Lista and Jordan Gullitiw of Asipulo, Ayangan folks must always stand up for what is right no matter where they are.**
