Deretsahan
Hazardous travel on the highway
By Bebot Villar
ONION farmers in Bayambang are now crying at hindi dahil naghihiwa sila ng sibuyas but because sobrang baba ng presyo ng sibuyas!
Ayon sa mga magsasaka doon, traders buy their onions at P10 to P13 per kilo! And the price keeps going down! Talong-talo po ang ating mga kawawang magsasaka sa presyong ito! What is suprising is that, if you buy onions in supermarkets, it sells at P40 per kilo ang presyo! Pero bakit ganoon na lang kababa ng presyo ng mga sibuyas to the farmers?
Sa laki ng gastos nila para sa kanilang farm inputs na inutang pa, they to sell at P20 per kilo at least just to break even. But in the situation they are in now, luging-lugi sila!
I am told it’s the middlemen ang nagma-manipulate ng price. Ito kasing middlemen ang namamakyaw ng sibuyas. To earn their margin, kailangnan nilang babaan ang buying price. Ang probreng magsasaka naman ay walang choice but to sell kaysa mabulok ang mga ito at lumaki pa ang interest ng kanyang utang.
Dapat busisihin agad ito ng Department of Agriculture (DA)! Bayambang is a major producer of onion sa buong Ilocos Region. Sa dami ng mga magsasaka doon, mahirap na malugi silang lahat.
Ang isa pang nakaka-high blood: Farmers can use storage plants but all storage facilities in Bayambang and in Tarlac are full of onion stocks owned by traders and businessmen.
Dapat noon pa ay nagdagdag na ang DA ng storage facilities exclusively for farmers. At dapat noon din ay nakagawa ng ng paraan ang DA to eliminate the middlemen.
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There are already many dead trees na nakatayo sa gilid ng national highway, from Urdaneta City hanggang Pozorrubio!
From what we gathered, there are now more than 100 dead trees along that highway! Aba, delikado po ito para sa mga motoristang dumadaan sa bahaging iyan ng national highway because these trees can fall on the road on its side anytime without warning!
It appears that these trees could not be cut by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) because of the court case filed by environment groups last year para tutulan ang pamumutol sa mga punong-kahoy. Kaya naman kailangan pang humingi ng clearance ng DPWH sa korte para itumba ang mga ito. (Those trees were among those that were supposed to have been cut last year to give way to the road widening project in the area. But before the DPWH could finish cutting them all, its tree-cutting permit expired).
So when the DPWH applied for the extension of its permit, environmental groups opposed at hanggang ngayon, wala pang lumalabas na permit.
Ang sa akin lang, it’s very clear na ang mga dead trees na ito ay hazardous to motorists. A dead wood, kahit walang malakas na hangin, ay kusa na lang bumabagsak because hindi na kayang dalhin ang sariling bigat nito.
Are we going to wait for an accident bago tayo kumilos and remove these dead trees? Sana, bago dumating ang tag-ulan, maalis na lahat ang mga ito. These trees are already dead and all we can do is to plant new ones para man lang kahit papaano ay magkaroon sila ng kapalit.
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Nakakabahala ang report na tumataas pa rin ang incidence ng bullying sa mga paaralan, sa kabila ng implementation ng Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 dalawang taon na ang nakakalipas.
And the incidents now are not just between students, but between teachers and students.
Sa report ng Department of Education (DepEd), more than 1,700 cases of child abuse at bullying have been recorded last school year 2013-2014, since Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 was passed.
What is sad is that these incidents ended with students not only getting physically and psychologically hurt, but — at least in one case — dead! Ang halimbawa nito ay ang isang student who committed suicide matapos siyang pagalitan ng kanyang teacher for plagiarizing for a term paper.
Clearly, may problema sa pagpapatupad sa batas o kaya’y may loopholes mismo ang batas! Halimbawa, will the law apply to a teacher who bullies students?
Naniniwala pa rin kasi tayo sa time-honored principle na ang eskuwelahan ay pangalawang tahanan at ang mga teachers ay mga second parents. It is their responsibility to teach the children properly hindi sa pamamagitan ng dahas upang maging kapaki-pakinabang silang mga mamamayan pagdating ng panahon.
The move of some congressmen to review and possibly amend the law is timely.
Sabi nga nila, children learn what they live. And learning should be fun! Ang mga guro at mga kapwa estudyante nila ay dapat maging gabay sa kanilang sama-samang pag-unlad bilang mga indibidwal!
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