All’s well that ends well at Sumilao

See what credibility can do! I am talking of the credibility of Cardinal Rosales as well as that of San Miguel’s Ramon Ang in forging a win-win compromise deal on the long festering Sumilao problem. Government couldn’t settle the issue despite pronouncements and orders from Ate Glue. In the end, the only role for government is to provide the legal cloak for the agreement between the parties. But can you imagine what could be achieved if Ate Glue had a reasonable level of credibility required of a national leader?

For a while it didn’t seem like a compromise deal was possible at all. The positions of the contending parties have hardened and there seemed to be other interested parties who were not interested in the best possible resolution. As it turned out, the goodwill and credibility of Cardinal Rosales turned things around. Now, the farmers will not only get their land but will also get livelihood support from the agri-business operations of San Miguel.

For a nation like ours where every peso of invested capital must yield benefits, it would have been an unpardonable waste to trash the investments San Miguel has already made in its P2.4- billion agri-business venture. I understand that 21 of 40 buildings have been completed and in progress including mechanical and electrical equipment installation. Power lines have been installed. Waste water treatment facility construction is in full swing. They were also expecting the arrival of the first batch of animals.

What the Sumilao farmers will now get is a sustainable micro-economy where livelihood opportunities and employment will be available for 2,400 farmers and 400 personnel with an annual payroll of P50 million. When I last talked with Ramon Ang, he also promised technical skills training, guaranteed floor prices for harvest and the development of downstream rural industries and village enterprises. The farmers will also be given access to credit and seed money. The long-term economic benefits of a guaranteed market and better pricing for their harvests may finally free the farmers from the clutches of usurers and middlemen.

For the country, what we will get from this Sumilao arrangement is a way to test a business model where a progressive corporate entity acts as a catalyst in countryside development. The P2.4-billion fully integrated agro-industrial complex will include a state-of-the-art feedmill, poultry and piggery farms, waste water treatment facilities, reservoir and provisions for forest development.

If the San Miguel-Sumilao partnership works, this could be a model that should shape the new version of our expiring Agrarian Reform Law. Our problem is we continue to think of Agrarian Reform as essentially a social reform issue, which it is. But to make it work, we have to think of it as a business proposition as well. Without a workable business model, this social reform experiment is bound to fail, as we have seen it fail before our eyes, wasting money that could have been productively used for other social development priorities like education and health care.

San Miguel and the Sumilao farmers cooperative have a large responsibility to make this arrangement work. We now have the opportunity to try a fresh approach in land reform that integrates social change with a workable business model. Filipino farmers all over the country can benefit from this Sumilao experience if it works.

Scrap CARP

 Ate Glue has carelessly sought the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), according to the Malacañang Press Office.  The extension of the CARP is part of Ate Glue’s policy to support farmers and at the same time promote food security and alleviate poverty, Malacañang said.

The CARP is set to expire on June 10. Last year, Ate Glue certified as urgent a bill seeking to extend the CARP Law. The CARP has been extended by 10 years since 1998. Some two million hectares of agricultural land still remains for distribution nationwide.

But rather than a plain and outright extension of CARP, Congress should use the opportunity to craft a better law based on our experience through decades of trying to implement it. It makes no sense to continue the charade of land reform that we all know simply does not work. It does not benefit the farmers and it also does not work to ensure national food security.

PhilStar reader RonaldLee Hortizuela from Nueva Ecija wrote me an e-mail that pointed out “the failure of RA 6657 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of the Philippines to make a difference and spur growth in our agricultural sector.” It was undeniably counter-productive, he stressed. He describes himself as “a lawyer by profession but also do farming on the side. Nevertheless, I would like to speak straight from the bird’s eye view of an ordinary citizen who mingles with farmers.”

First, Hortizuela points out, the gradual deterioration and/or stagnation of the quality of our farming could be attributed to the partition or subdivision of our vast agricultural lands into smaller lots and left to the care of our marginalized and financially constrained farmers. “We have the most backward or crude system of farming despite the presence of many research centers and quality agricultural universities in our country because our farmers are averse to high technology farming and/or simply could not afford it.”

The main goal of our farmers, Hortizuela says, “is to survive, to feed his family three times a day and, for him that is already an achievement. Farming on a larger scale is not within the realm of his thoughts. This cripples any chance for growth… Our government divided our agricultural lands into unproductive smaller areas in favor of individual and small-time farmers who are mostly cash-strapped. With the death of the original awardee, farmlands become even smaller as it will be divided/ partitioned among the many heirs who end up fighting long and draining court litigation for the land. Just look at the cases lodged in our courts or quasi-judicial agency like the DARAB.”

Atty. Hortizuela continues: “Second, if our government will revisit those farmers who have received their emancipation patent titles which it claim is proof of the implementation of RA 6557, they will find out that many of these EP titles are back in the hands of previous big landowners acting as private lenders.”

He explains that “while there is limitation to land acquisition, leasing of land is limitless. Lands and EP titles are being sold or mortgaged to former big landowners or converted to subdivisions by real estate developers who promise our poor farmers that once in a lifetime chance for big money.  Yet, by the time our government claims successful implementation of RA 6557, most of our farmers are back to where they started… toiling the land for someone else under profit sharing schemes which are grossly disadvantageous to them.”

He stresses that “we should learn from our experience. It is corporate farming of big estates by a group of farmers assisted by our government and efficiently managed by professional managers that will give our farmers a chance to uplift their lives, secure our country in food sufficiency and make our agricultural products at par with the products of our neighboring countries.”

He observes that “we could not compete with China because most of their farms are controlled by large cooperatives. I also believe that it is more economical and will save in the use of water, pesticides, insecticides and fertilizer if we consolidate our farms into bigger estates and practice simultaneous planting and harvest. With this, we can even neutralize or control the population of rodents which can’t survive without food for a month. We can neutralize the proliferation of middle men and traders who make big profits at the expense of our toiling farmers. It is PROFIT not LAND that will make a difference in the lives of our farmers and our NATION as a whole.”

Pick pocket

Romana Borromeo forwarded this one.

MISTER: Isa sa mga bata ang kumuha ng pera sa pitaka ko!

MISIS: Sobra ka! Ba’t mo pinagbibintangan ang mga  bata? Malay mo, ako?!

MISTER: Siguradong hindi ikaw! Kasi, may natira!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]