COJUANGCO UPDATES

A DECENT life and a good job for every Pangasinense.

That’s what former Pangasinan fifth district Congressman Mark Cojuangco envisions for his beloved provincemates.

For Cojuangco, nothing is more valuable than having a family that is intact.

He told residents of Barangay Gueguesangen, Sta. Barbara town Tuesday night in his dialogue accompanied by his team for the May polls, that his dream is to see his fellow Pangasinenses have decent jobs, enjoy good pay so they will experience comfortable lives, not by working abroad or elsewhere, but right in their own home province.

Former Pangasinan Fifth District Rep. Mark Cojuangco (center) and Calasiao Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay (fourth from left) join residents of Barangay Gueguesangen, Sta. Barbara with his mayoralty bet Juan Emmanuel Cabangon and his vice mayoralty tandem, Ruben Jose.

He, however, said this takes years of proper planning and good governance.

For his short-term plan, he envisions to improve livelihood in Pangasinan.

He cited the case of 75 percent of Pangasinenses who rely on farming as a means of livelihood. In Villasis town which is part of the fifth congressional district where Cojuangco was a three-term congressman, he said more than P700-million worth of palay is already harvested yearly.

He said this was realized through the agricultural projects he initiated that resulted in at least 10 percent increase of farmers’ income annually.

“That’s only P70-million in one town. Imagine if all towns in our province would earn the same, we would not only be talking of millions but billions of pesos,” he said. “Simple arithmetic would prove this,” he pointed out.

Villasis has 4,000 hectares of rice land that yields 4,200 kilos of palay per hectare with two and half times harvest per year due to irrigation. With P18 a kilo of palay price, it translates to a whopping P700-million in income.

One of the major agricultural projects of Cojuangco in Villasis was the construction of a warehouse and drying facility when he was congressman in the fifth district funded by proceeds from tobacco excise tax.

He said he envisioned such a project in response to problems in drying harvested palay during the rainy season, and during summer as well. Farmers can use the warehouse to store their produce when prices are low and wait for the right time to sell at higher prices.

During Cojuangco’s term as congressman, Villasis also received five tractors, a mechanical fiber, 20 units of Kubota mini tractors, two forward trucks, one payloader, one backhoe and one grader, among other pro-farmer projects.

Meanwhile, Cojuangco explained why traders and middlemen from Nueva Ecija and Isabela come to Pangasinan to buy palay and corn respectively.

He said they buy and store them in warehouses in Nueva Ecija and Isabela, and mill these once the demand from Manila markets increase, enabling them to rake in huge profits at the expense of Pangasinan farmers.

“Why can’t we do that right here in Pangasinan? Store them in warehouses, mill them and once traded outside, these are already either in rice form or as corn feeds for added value ” he said.

To realize these, there must be infrastructure for post-harvest stage, he said. But this needs capital that an ordinary farmer or a cooperative cannot provide, he added. Thus, government intervention must come in but rules must be properly observed, he said.

Cojuangco stressed that choosing the right leaders with sufficient knowledge, enough capability and vast experience, holds the key.

Cojuangco, a gubernatorial candidate in the May 9 elections, is confident he can help Pangasinenses achieve a dream family life with his expertise and tested dedication.

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