Prof. Davide apologizes to Gwen

CEBU, Philippines - University of the Philippines Los Baños Professor Romulo Davide has apologized to Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who got mad at his letter expressing dismay over her “withdrawal of support” for the Farmer-Scientist Training Program (FSTP).

But Davide has made a lot of explanations why he came up with the letter, which was a report of the things he personally heard mostly from FSTP-trained farmers and other local government officials in Cebu.

“I really feel sorry and ask forgiveness from our dynamic, very active Governor Gwen that my letter report has irked/slighted/hurt her feelings. I am just doing my job as Program Leader of FSTP throughout the country,” Davide wrote.

Davide was the Capitol consultant on agriculture without pay with a contract fee of P1 a year for six years. But he stopped during the election campaign in 2010 elections when his nephew, former Cebu City councilor Hilario “Jun-jun” Davide III, ran against Garcia for governor.

Davide earlier wrote to Garcia expressing his dismay for her withdrawal of support for the FSTP which allegedly “punished the more than 20,000 FSTP-trained farmers for not voting for her in the last election.”

Davide, a Cebuano, is the national program leader of the corn-based FSTP.

But Garcia said what angered her most was that the letter of Davide was furnished to all members of the Provincial Board, all mayors and municipal agriculturists and officers of Cebu and to all Cebu FSTP farmers’ associations.

Garcia said that the act of furnishing copies to all farmer-beneficiaries smacks of political undertone.

Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda made a reply to Davide in behalf of the governor. He explained that Garcia did not withdraw support for the FSTP but just renamed it into Integrated Farming System Development Program (IFSDP).

“As Program Leader of FSTP it is my duty and responsibility to report to the Governor how our FSTP-trained farmers and other LGU officials especially that the creation IFSDP to replace FSTP in name is very confusing to them and led them to conclude that it was politically motivated because this was done right after the election,” Davide said.

They may have disagreed with the governor on some issues but Davide felt she should not get hurt because criticisms, “hurtful or not, are very important” for them to improve performance and services to the people as government officials. —(FREEMAN)