‘Pablo’ is hot in Davao

DAVAO CITY , Philippines   â€“ Success is sweet – and hot – for some typhoon victims in Davao Oriental who are trying to get over chilling memories of a disaster.

“Hot Pablo,” the new black pepper and chili-based food seasoning produced in areas in Mindanao ravaged by a typhoon of the same name in 2012, is becoming more in demand – thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of the typhoon victims, President Aquino said yesterday.

Aquino was in Cateel, Davao Oriental as part of the celebration of the 28th anniversary of the People Power revolution.

For this year, Malacañang chose to hold official celebration of the event in calamity-hit areas instead of in Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or EDSA where the historic bloodless uprising took place.

The President said the product’s early success shows the importance of people in a community helping each other to rise from tragedies.

“You faced the daunting challenges with a show of concern for others, cooperation and dedication to rise,” Aquino said in Filipino.

He noted this was evident in the “Hot Pablo” project for Cateel, Baganga and Boston, which opened up a lot of opportunities for fellow Filipinos.

Aquino praised Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, who was with him during the visit to Cateel, and the Department of Trade and Industry for being part of the success of the product now being exported to Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.

The President said the people of Davao Oriental suffered from the loss of livelihood when Typhoon Pablo destroyed coconut plantations.

Instead of wallowing in misery, the people moved to rebuild their lives and seek alternative sources of income, including planting chili.

He said after only three months, the farmers started harvesting their produce and processing them into various products with the export market in mind.

Aquino said a private company provided capital to produce Hot Pablo for export to Guam after a successful trial run in Brunei and Singapore.

“The problem now is that your production is not sufficient… the opportunity is there, let us take advantage of it,” he told his audience.

Aquino said the government would make sure that quality seedlings, proper irrigation and ample training would help them further.

He stressed inter-cropping is now the name of the game – meaning lands must be planted to other crops instead of just coconuts.

At present, farmers can only earn P20,000 per hectare every year from coconut, but this can increase to P100,000 per hectare annually if there are other products like cacao on the side, Aquino said.

“So why not push it to the limit?”

The President noted the government also fulfilled its obligations and delivered the necessary assistance. He said 508,234 food packs had been distributed to affected families in Davao Oriental.

He said Task Force Pablo was formed to undertake the rehabilitation of ravaged areas and a total of P10.5 billion had been initially allotted for the program.

Aquino said the government was bent on building back better communities and that 17,480 families would be given permanent housing in safer areas in Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.

In Cateel, Aquino said 110 houses were built and construction was continuing to meet the August deadline to relocate the families away from danger areas.

He said his father and namesake was very particular about word of honor and he would like to turn over the houses on the target date, which is August, or even earlier.

Power lack peeves P-Noy

He also said that while he is happy about overall normalcy, he could not help but castigate some government agencies for failing to bring back electricity in some villages in Davao Oriental.

In his speech, the President said he immediately called Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, as well as the National Electrification Administration to look into people’s complaint that not enough is being done to restore power in many areas.

“I called because I was surprised, why are there still places here where energy has not yet been restored? Their response to me is that there’s a pending request by NEA. The DBM (Department of Budget and Management) said they don’t have the request,” Aquino said.

“So I asked the DOE (Department of Energy): Where is this request really? I’ve asked so many times that before I leave Cateel, I better get a good answer. They know I rarely lose my patience, but they best not try me,” he said.  â€“ With Aurea Calica