Our farmers suffered the most

THE Provincial Agricultural Office (PAO) cannot be depended upon fully to preserve and protect the interests of our stakeholders in the agriculture front for as long as it cannot see beyond cold statistics to describe the state of the industry.

We note PAO’s damage report to the provincial board last week – P2 billion in damages! To back this claim, PAO said it culled the data from reports of the all municipal agricultural offices in the province. This fixation with statistics is what keeps our farmers shackled to poverty. Our farmers are not given a face in development and in calamitous times.

We seriously doubt if the province’s highest officials can put a finger on what P2-billion in damages really represent.

But try reporting how many of our farmers suffered from the reported P2 billion in  damages. Then they can surmise how serious the situation is, how much help the farmers need to start all over again so we can continue to have food on our tables.

PDRRMC enables us to understand the extent of destruction suffered in the province by sharing with us the number of families that had to be evacuated in towns and barangays. It’s knowing how many families were affected that taxpayers understand why a state of calamity had to be declared.

But PAO cannot even identify where the most number of farmers suffered, which and how many of their crops were lost. PAO talks about fertilizers and seeds, not to mention how many farmers saw their homes also washed away as well.

To put it mildly, it’s our farmers among the evacuees that suffered the most in the province, yet not a single word or number is attributed to them.

 

Rule of law

THE beauty about the Trillanes case is, laws are at work.

First, President Duterte said Sen. Trillanes ought to be thrown back to jail for failing to fully comply with terms of the presidential amnesty in 2011 following his failed rebellion tries  in 2003 and 2007.  But he escaped arrest by seeking refuge at the Senate building.  The Senate shields sitting senators from arrest as asserted no less by Senate President Tito Sotto.

And second, after the court denied his petition to quash an arrest warrant against him, Trillanes paid the P200,000 bail for his temporary freedom. From a Makati court, he would next run back to the Senate, where he’d resume his rants against President Duterte.

Isn’t the rule of law being observed to the hilt?   Top that.

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