Punchline
Cayetano’s fight for the farmers
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
PANGASINENES have a reason to be mad as hell like Senator Alan Cayetano who has been relentless in speaking out against those who dared steal the billions provided by the PDAF intended mainly to benefit our farmers and their families.
According to Benhur Luy, the whistleblower who was finance officer of Napoles’ JLN Corp., among the intended beneficiaries of the P200 million in Region 1 were farmers in Umingan, 18-M; Calasiao, 15-M; Sual, 9-M; and Balungao, 11-M.
Mercifully, the senator refused to be cowed and silenced by Janet Lim Napoles’ insidious attempt to raise doubts on his integrity by citing his alleged acceptance of campaign contribution from her.
It’s worth noting that Napoles’ belated allegation only served to prove that the senator did not divert a single centavo to any of her fake foundations, something that the Commission on Audit knew all along, a fact that I, too, personally knew about. How so? I had the privilege of overseeing the management of his PDAF fund when I was invited to serve as his consultant beginning 2010. I knew of an instance when he flatly rejected offers of kickbacks from some Mindanao mayors in exchange for an allotment from his PDAF.
What the Napoles camp failed to understand about him when they concocted the story was he had seen worse like when he, still as a congressman, crossed swords with the powerful Mike Arroyo. Recall that he was unstoppable when he hounded those behind the Hello Garci tape and the fertilizer scam despite endless attempts of powerful and influential politicos to pooh-pooh his efforts as grandstanding.
Knowing his character, we can expect the senator to continue harping on the need for the early prosecution of those charged, particularly of his colleagues at the senate who were implicated by COA’s records, not just by any “Napolist.” He wants justice for our farmers and their families who were deprived of the opportunity to improve their lot, including those whose names were unknowingly used for the scam.
Yes, the pork barrel scam targeted hapless and voiceless farmers as victims, and our farmers need a fearless champion in the upper chamber.
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FARMERS’ PROTECTION. Paging our 6 Congress representatives: Reps. Jesus Celeste (1st D.), Leopoldo Bataoil (2nd D.), Baby Arenas (3rd D.), Gina de Venecia (4th D.), Kimi Cojuangco (5th D.) and Marlyn Agabas (6th D)!
Three issues back, I suggested the crafting of a bill – mandatory coverage of crop insurance for agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB)- that would surely benefit our farmers who have been literally abandoned by government, left alone to be at the receiving end of nature’s wrath – El Niño and La Niña phenomena, and the series of typhoons that regularly lash at our farmlands.
Well, here’s proof of how our small farmers can benefit from such a coverage.
A recent news report confirmed that more than 1,000 rice and corn farmers in two towns of Isabela province have received indemnity checks totaling almost P14 million to cover their losses from a drought that hit the province early this year.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) cited specifically the cases of 1,198 of ARBs who till a total of 2,044.31 hectares of farmlands in San Pablo and Cabagan towns and received P13.8 million for losses incurred during the second cropping season.
Apparently, DAR and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. launched the Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Agricultural Insurance Program to provide comprehensive insurance against crop losses caused by natural disasters, pest infestation and plant diseases for the ARBs.
DAR paid 100 percent of the insurance premiums for the ARBs’ rice, corn, high-value crops and livestock. This included insurance against accidents and death of ARBs and members of their household.
The crop insurance coverage began on the date of issuance of the Certificate of Insurance Cover, which meant that coverage started at planting up to harvesting and covered the cost of production inputs plus an additional 20 percent to cover the value of the expected yield.
This policy remains selective and therefore what is needed is a law, similar to the PhilHealth law, that makes mandatory coverage of ARBs. An insurance against losses will immediately stop the growing trend of ARBs selling their rights since farming will finally become less of a risk and become more profitable.
Today, Pangasinan farmers are left to fend for themselves not to mention their being continuously vulnerable to loan sharks and unscrupulous traders. Without any sustainable growth and promise of return on investment, soon we will not have enough farmers to ensure that there will be food to buy for the rest of the country.
If Congress cannot pass such a law, perhaps our six congress representatives can work with Guv Spines to make such a program a reality in Pangasinan.
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BEHN’S LEGACY. Behn Hortaleza, former publisher-editor of Pangasinan Star, had written 30 with his boots on, and one of the few well-respected journalists around. Up to his last comfortable, conscious moment, he wrote his thoughts as columnist at the Weekly Guardian.
Behn and I shared basic principles about integrity and professionalism. He didn’t have to think twice about accepting my invitation for him to join the Philippine Press Institute, the organization that strongly advocated the promotion of code of ethics among journalists. He, as Pangasinan Star’s publisher, and I collaborated closely in the late 80s in exposing and fighting abuses by upstart news publications, particularly the rampant violation of the law on publication of legal notices by publishers.
With his support, the regional trial courts became aware of the abuses, i.e., overcharging court petitioners by as much as 120% more than what the law provides. The abuses were subsequently checked.
Many have forgotten that he was The PUNCH’s managing editor (before he launched his Pangasinan Star) at a time when we were going through a difficult period during the martial law regime. He helped me manage our issues with vital information for our readers notwithstanding the censorship policy of the Marcos dictatorship. Yes, for too long, articles were censored by the military prior to publication!
Then, unknown to many, when he accepted the offer of then Mayor Benjie Lim as the city’s information officer, he came to The PUNCH office for an exchange of views about his new job and our respective views of the mayor. We had an easy time and we readily agreed to proceed with our respective missions without any fear of possibly misinterpreting or misconstruing our views as personal attacks on each other. And without any fear of contradiction, I dare say, he did credibly well in spite of the difficult situations created by Mr. Lim.
I felt his pain and angst when I heard he decided to sell his Pangasinan Star out of sheer need for more funds to support his medication. Nothing could be more painful than to part with a cherished possession out of stark necessity.
Behn left a legacy that ought to be remembered – his passion for true community journalism, dedication for professionalism and his fluency in the English language that enabled him to communicate his thoughts and vision well.
His presence, words and thoughts will be sorely missed in our community.
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