By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
Long before the mother of all blows on Filipino farmers called the Rice Tarrification Law, among the cruellest jokes being perpetrated on Filipino farmers are the supposed assistance from the government being distributed by or through the Department of Agriculture (DA). These include organic fertilizer whose only use is for backfilling, the liquid fertilizers concocted in the criminal mind of Jocjoc Bolante, expensive farm machineries that are only good for one year, seeds that don’t germinate, etc.
This is truly sad and ugly because most farmers are not rich and the assistance, if the real deal, would be a great help to them. Instead, they are a source of dismay and further disillusionment of the government among our farmers. .
I have personally witnessed instances of this ugliness prompting me to coin some “meanings” of the acronym DA. It started more than 10 years ago when my second cousin Ferdie Cosmiano came to me complaining about having to find new seeds and of being late in planting because only 10 percent of the rice seeds he got from the DA germinated and he had to re-sow. He was a bit amused when I said that in that case, the meaning of DA is “di agtubo” (does not germinate).
Around a couple of cropping seasons later, Ferdie came again to complain to me that the rice stands of the hybrid seeds he got from the DA are of three levels – short, medium and tall – and obviously, they will not mature simultaneously complicating the harvest. I suggested to him that we have the matter investigated which occasioned one of the few times I openly manifested displeasure on account of something I have written. While the DA and PhilRice team were taking a look at the crop, the guy from the PhilRice stated that the news report was exaggerated. Without meaning to, I told him heatedly to dispute the report. He pretended not to have heard me. Manong Sebio Orprecio would take me aside to cool me down saying “Makiapaka metten” (You are picking a fight already).
That time it was Ferdie who spelled out DA as “di agpapada” (not uniform).
Years later, not giving the specifics, Ferdie told me DA also stands for “di agited” (they do not give). He was referring to the practice where favouritism rears its ugly head in the implementation the DA’s animal dispersal program.
In 2016, I heard the hard luck stories of several farmer groups that were given lemon machineries. From information, the expensive units did not even operate for a year. So I wryly said that another meaning of DA is “di agbayag” (will not last long).
During the dialogue between Congressman Allen Jesse Mangaoang with the farmer-cooperative-church bloc trying to respond to the dire situation created by the Rice Tarrification Law on October 15, the problem of the very low quality of equipment coming from the DA cropped up. The solon added another DA: “diyo awaten” (do not accept). He said that the problem is farmers receive the units and then complain later. If farmers see that the units are lemons, they should reject them, he said.
I go along with the thinking of Congressman Mangaoang that for so long as farmers keep accepting the questionable machineries, the tainted culture will not end. It’s high time we neutralize the DA with DA as in “din agpalpaloko” (will no longer be fooled).**
