COJUANGCO UPDATES

THE first mechanized rotary milking parlor in the country is being built in a government-funded dairy farm in Barangay Maraboc, Laoac town.

Former Fifth District Rep. Mark Cojuangco, father of the dairy farm project, told newsmen Monday during a tour at the farm that his goal is to have at least 400 milking cows that would each produce 10 liters of milk daily.

With P60 per liter worth of milk, the dairy farm would generate about P240,000 a day gross revenue, Cojuangco said.

“It’s still too early to judge this dairy farm because we are only starting to have the right and correct facilities to operate this smoothly,” he said, amid criticisms from misinformed quarters about the project whose operation was stalled.

Cojuangco said the dairy farm had made success in its initial operations despite lack of correct equipment that led to difficulty of milking operation and caused the deteriorated health of the imported cows years back.

He said if cows were not milked at the right time, they would have infection in their nipples that would render them sick. If the frequency of milking them is not also sufficient, they also stop from producing milk, he added.

“Now that we have this modern milking facility (shown in photos here), this will be sustainable,” he said.

He said all the improvements, including the lot, are owned by the government and the intention is for the interest of the people of the eight towns and one city of the fifth district.

“If you see all the assets here, these are properly accounted for,” he said.

He said the dairy farm project was financed with minority percentage from tobacco excise tax funds share of his district, from Cojuangco’s senator-friends, the National Dairy Authority, Department of Agriculture and from congressmen’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) before it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC).

The project began to encounter some problems with the SC decision that resulted in the delay in the construction of the rotary milking parlor. It was also then that they foresaw they would encounter cash flow problem so they sought government help.

They were promised help but it never came, resulting in more problems, he said.

But to say that the project was funded by excise tax share is wrong, Cojuangco stressed.

“What we used for the dairy farm from the tobacco excise tax share of the district was only a few million pesos. It did not reach P100-million. It was only a portion of the excise tax (used),” he said.

He said bulk of the tobacco excise tax share of his district was also used for post harvest infrastructure of corn and palay, purchase of lot for facilities like industrial dryer with a 400-ton capacity daily, concrete farm-to-market roads, brand new tractors, traveller irrigation systems, among others.

Cojuangco said that in few weeks’ time, the platform of the ongoing construction of the rotary milking parlor will be completed, while the mechanical side still lacks P5-million for its electronic needs, but it can already be operated manually.

“But it would be better if it would run fully automated so that would be tested near election time,” he said.

He said funds are sufficient to finish the construction of the rotary milking parlor.

Cojuangco said the remaining imported milking cows are still there, although some had died. They started with 200 cows that increased to 700.

He said they have an outstanding request to President Aquino who verbally promised to grant it in a talk with his wife, incumbent Fifth District Rep. Kimi Cojuangco.

“But it is not yet released. Maybe the person who should be questioned is Budget Secretary Florencio Abad but our congresswoman was not remiss in her job in trying to source funds to make the dairy farm operational again,” Cojuangco said.

The dairy farm is being managed by the Pangasinan Fifth District Dairy and Minor Livestock Cooperative.

He said he feels responsible for the farm being the father of this project, thus he is pushing for the revival of its operations.

He said school children, especially in public schools, would greatly benefit from the project, especially during feeding programs for their health welfare.

To his critics, Cojuangco, who smells politics as motive behind a rally held recently by a group at the dairy farm, gave this message: “I hope you study the details well. These issues would not come out if I didn’t run for governor for 2016. I

have answered your questions many times over. Why not help this project which has great potentials for the benefits it would give for Pangasinan, why not allow it to reach a happy conclusion?”

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