CEBU, Philippines - The Butil Farmers Party has selected yesterday its nominees to Congress in the event it wins in the May elections as well as its new party officers as a sign of recognition of its members and supporters in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Jimmy Pardinilla, the party’s secretary general, said their five official nominees are Herminio Ocampo, lawyers Gerardo Dilig and Maximillan Cempron, Guillermo Cuarema, and Antonio Quilang.
Ocampo is currently serving as one of the representatives of the party, replacing Rep. Leonila Chavez who died of severe stroke last January 28, 2010.
Section 16 of the Republic Act 7941 states that in case of vacancy in the seats reserved for partylist representatives, the vacancy shall be automatically filled by the next representative from the list of nominees in the order submitted to the COMELEC by the same party, organization, or coalition, who shall serve for the unexpired term.
Pardinilla said these five nominees shall occupy a seat in the Congress if the party gets elected on May 10, 2010.
He told The FREEMAN that their general assembly yesterday was in accordance to the party’s constitution and by-laws. He emphasized that only those names duly declared in the general assembly shall be recognized as official nominees considering the process of electing officials.
Ocampo, in a news statement, said that he has met with newly-appointed Budget Secretary Joaquin Lagonera Sr. to appeal for more funds for emergency irrigation and to rescue farmers whose crops have been destroyed by the ongoing dry spell.
“We are facing an agricultural calamity in our country if the government fails to fast to rescue farmers and their land. Our scientists and planners know the El Niño weather phenomenon occurs every five years so I cannot understand why our government has failed to pre-install measures and mechanisms to dampen the effects of El Niño,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cempron said that as a lawyer and as a “farmer” himself, he knows the plight of the peasants who are branded as “underprivileged and exploited” and promises to pass bills that would let farmers market their produce.
“I’d like to give them a free access to the government,” he said.
Butil is a parylist organization that represents the largest marginalized sector of the country that seeks to uplift the lives of the farmers, fisherfolk and the rural poor serving as the main effective catalyst for social reforms in the countryside development through peaceful and democratic means.
Pardinilla, on the other hand, said that the party’s immediate plan is to have an irrigation system or the artificial application of water to the soil to assist in the growing of agricultural crops and re-vegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall.
Roberto Ocampo, Butil’s political affairs officer, said the party aims to promote food security in the entire nation, by first helping provide for the socio-economic security of the farmers, fisherfolk and the rural poor.
“[Butil] has worked in the empowerment of the farmers, in terms of policies and decisions of the government. It has influenced the administration in increasing support price,” he said.
The party’s advocacy, he added, include the availability of credit to farmers and the creation of cooperative banking system, which has already extended agricultural loans to farmers several times. — Marjun A. Baguio/WAB (FREEMAN NEWS)