From police work to farming, he's tops

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines – An outstanding policeman in this city and province has received recognition in a different field of interest – farming.

Senior Police Officer 4 Virgilio Cardinoza, twice cited as outstanding policeman for the city and the province, was named as the Most Outstanding Farmer of the Year as part of this city’s fiesta celebration the other day.

Cardinoza said he spends equal time as a policeman and a farmer.

He said it was his performance as an investigator that earned him the police awards.

“Before, our duty was 24 hours so I spent my next 24 hours farming,” he told local newsmen.

The 48-year-old cop, who joined the service in 1986, said he used to till only half a hectare in 1994, but that increased to 10 hectares and he eventually became a seed grower.

He admitted he is earning more as a seed producer than as a law enforcer, with gross sales of P800,000 during the second seed cropping, and half of it was his profit.

Cardinoza went into farming when he saw farmlands in Barangay San Juan idle during the second cropping season.

He borrowed farm equipment like hand tractor (locally known as kuliglig), but he now has complete farm machinery. He also now has his own warehouse for his produce, as well as his own vehicle.

His children are all getting good education – his eldest is a cadet at the Philippine Military Academy, the second is a scholar at the University of the Philippines in Baguio City, while his youngest is in high school at the Virgen Milagrosa University here.

He rents the lot he is tilling with the help of four other farm workers, but he hires more workers during harvest time.

He now supplies almost all the certified seeds in this agricultural city and plans to apply for early retirement in two years to concentrate on farming and hopes to have an additional 15 hectares.

“I thought of going into farming to augment my salary as a policeman,” he said, adding that his inspiration was his father who was also a farmer.

The multi-awarded cop attends seminars on farming as far away as Nueva Ecija to increase his knowledge of seed production.

He said it is his pride to be awarded both as outstanding policeman and farmer, and advised his colleagues in the service to go into farming to earn extra money.