Gibo: Maguindanao needs modern agriculture system

MANILA, Philippines - Reconstruction in economic system is the key to a more peaceful Maguindanao, Lakas-Kampi CMD presidential bet Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro said yesterday.

Teodoro said he favors a Marshall Plan type of economic package that would modernize the province’s irrigation system

He also suggested that building a network of farm-to-market roads would boost the area’s agricultural productivity.

Noting that Maguindanao has some of the most fertile farming lands in Mindanao, Teodoro said developing and expanding the province’s irrigation facilities to cover more acreage is a key to unlocking its economic potential that could double or triple its current agricultural yield.

“If we will just spend a little resource in developing the province’s irrigation facilities, I have no doubt that Maguindanao will contribute greatly to our food security,” he said.

However, Teodoro noted that there should be a consistent defense system in the province in order to maintain the proposed reconstruction.

Teodoro added that necessary road and communications infrastructure support should also be made and strenghtened to boost productivity and enable farmer groups to market their products to the nearest population centers in the province and region.

“By providing farmer groups in the region with irrigation and infrastructure support, we are reducing poverty in Maguindanao, which is the primary trigger of violence and crime in the province, thus ensuring peace for the coming generations,” Teodoro said.

The former defense secretary urged the national government to provide Maguindanao’s indigenous tribes and marginalized residents with livelihood assistance. This is a primal exercise to enable them to support their families through decent means and steer them away from lawlessness.

He said that this approach proved successful in rehabilitating war-ravaged Japan in 1945 and in neutralizing the communist threat in the Philippines in the 1950s.

Marshall Plan

“The Marshall Plan approach has proven very successful in eradicating violence in society ravaged by generations of fighting. If properly implemented in Maguindanao, people living in the region could do their part in helping the country achieve economic stability and greatness,” Teodoro said.

Following the dismantling of the Ampatuan clan’s private army in Maguindanao last month, Teodoro had asked the government to undertake parallel and intensive efforts to rebuild Maguindanao’s ruined economy and strengthen its civil service.