Feature story: Former solon: Govt. should review some programs

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — In order to address poverty amidst the growing concerns on climate change, a former lawmaker proposes for the government to fully scrutinize the budget of several key agencies and the effectivity of some government programs.

Former representative Herminio G. Teves said that despite the government’s effort to cleanse the Department of National Defense from corrupt practices, the department is still draining the government of funds with its continued practice of over-hiring personnel.

“In 1998, during the budget hearing of the Department of (National) Defense, I questioned why does the Philippine Navy have 19,000 personnel? When we put the 19,000 in our ships, it would sink. And then there are 20,000 in the Air Force with very few planes,” he told The FREEMAN.

He added that instead of the government focusing its probe on how the money is being used, they should also start focusing on where the money came from.

“The money could have come from ghost employees because how could there be that much Naval Officers and employees and Air Force personnel?” he emphasized.

Teves, who was a naval officer during the Japanese occupation, expressed his disgust with the fact that despite being a potential source of corruption, the Aquino Administration continues to tolerate this practice.

“In spite of the program of President Aquino, nga ‘walang kurap, walang mahirap’ this number of personnel is being maintained up to now in the budget,” he said.

Teves also scrutinized the agrarian reform program of the government, saying that it is one of the reasons why the country’s food security is being threatened.

Teves, who owns sugar company Herminio Teves & Co., cited the present sugar crisis as an example on the failure of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

He said that although the CARP beneficiaries continue to utilize confiscated sugarcane plantations for sugarcane production, “they don’t have the knowledge, nor are they that efficient nor are they that hardworking.”

Belittling the beneficiaries of CARP, Teves said: “Are the CARP beneficiaries actual farmers, or are they Leftists who just want our country to remain poor?”

He suggested that instead of the government confiscating productive land from large land owners, they should make use of underutilized land that has been classified as arable alienable and disposable.

In his paper, Addressing Climate Change, Teves revealed that Negros Oriental has around 258,505 hectares of unproductive land that has been classified as alienable and disposable.

“It is unreasonable that our country with existing vast publicly-owned arable land will be short of food as compared to many countries with less land per capita but are self-sufficient in food,” he said.

He suggested that the homestead program of the Magsaysay Administration, where underutilized land in the Mindanao region were distributed to interested farmers, should serve as a prototype for the Aquino Administration’s agrarian reform program.

He also suggested that the 4Ps program of the Arroyo Administration, which is being continued by Aquino, should also be used to help ensure food security and the success of the government’s environmental programs.

Teves said that instead of simply doling out money to families, these families should also be mandated to plant jatropha trees or tuba-tuba, paying them for every tree being planted with the money used for the 4Ps project.

Teves, whose company was granted the jatropha project by former president Gloria Arroyo, maintains that jatropha’s high water absorption ability is ideal for reforestation.

He asserted in his paper that a farmer could earn an additional P2,450 per year for an hectare of jatropha, with 100 jatropha trees per hectare. He said that this would be enough for a farmer to use in purchasing certified seeds of corn, rice, or sugarcane points.

This, he said, would be a more efficient way of utilizing government money.

Teves believes that jatropha would help address the issue on the oil crisis while minimizing carbon emissions due to the use of fossil fuels.

He revealed that jatropha has great potential in power generation and “in the very near future” could supply the fuel requirements of bunker fuel and diesel fuel-fired power plants.

“While our country and the whole world are serious in solving poverty alleviation/climate change and food security, no concrete solutions are being undertaken by governments of the world, much less by our non-government and government financial institutions,” he said. — /BRP (FREEMAN)