Learning from those whom we taught

Call it a rude awakening by a Philippine President. For the first time in three dec-ades, a Filipino President finally accepted the reality that we Filipinos have much to learn from the Vietnamese about their efficient use of their arable land, specifically for rice production. While P.Noy is in Vietnam for the ASEAN Summit, at least he learned some-thing from that meeting.

For too long, the Filipino's false sense of pride did more badly for our country than good. Many pundits wrote volumes of articles about how we Filipinos taught our ASEAN neighbors how to produce rice. Our false sense of pride says that we cannot learn anything from them. But if we swallow our pride, like what P.Noy just did, then there is hope in this country that we can improve rice production and learn from those whom we taught.

More than three decades ago, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) that was established in the Philippines got countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam to come to the Philippines to learn how to produce rice. However, our ASEAN neighbors just did not plant the variety of rice that they learned from the IRRI, they made their own research and in the end, they came up with rice with a much higher yield on a per hectare basis. This is not to mention that they used mechanical equipment in order to speed up production.

Apparently P.Noy could not help but notice how the Vietnamese used all their arable land when he flew from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Perhaps when he returns home, P.Noy ought to fly in a small plane and also look at how much arable land we are using for food production. Perhaps one major problem we are experiencing in this country is that many people opt to become squatters in urban areas rather than till the farms. This is why people believe that the Philippines are over populated! But the reality is, there are very few people in the countryside.

In some areas, it is quite understandable why people flee from their homes in the countryside - because of insurgency. This happened in our own farm (the Segura Farms) in Candumayao, Catigbian, Bohol, which was infested by the New People's Army (NPA) for at least 5 years. When the military came after them, their left-leaning above ground allies cried out in the newspapers that Bohol was being "militarized". Nothing could be further from the truth! The military only went to Catigbian because the NPA presence was there. Thankfully, then Gov. Enrico Aumentado worked for the removal of the insur-gency with the help of the AFP and in a few years they vanished.

In Catigbian (which is 35 kilometers from Tagbilaran or 18 kilometers from Tubigon) Mayor Roberto Salinas, a retired Navy Captain, addressed the problems that allowed the insurgency to breed. The people did not have a waterworks system so he con-structed one. Catigbian was very inaccessible because of the bad roads. I did my part in requesting the Bohol governors to pave our roads. After 20 years with the Regional De-velopment Council (RDC-7), there's only 2 kilometers left unpaved.

Mayor Salinas even bought a brand new tractor for farmers to lease in order to speed up the cultivation of the land. Now how many town mayors do you know have done this? Not only that, he constructed the Catigbian Livestock Auction Center, which is the biggest in the island of Bohol. Now, every Monday, anyone who wants to buy or sell livestock goes to Catigbian.

I was there last week and did a courtesy call to Mayor Salinas. He marveled at the fence that we are constructing in the Segura Farms and jokingly told me that he'll make this a tourism destination as the longest fence in Bohol, which is really true! Also, the Mayor told me that Catigbian has a cave and a small waterfall, which I never knew ex-isted so I need to go back there. If only all the town mayors were as dynamic as Mayor Salinas, then this nation can move forward faster than we can ever imagine.

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Attention all Big Bikers and Motorcycle Clubs: Tomorrow Oct.29 to 31 from Fri-day to Sunday, the Star Touring and Riding Club will once again host its "BIKETOBERFEST 2010" which has become somewhat of a Star Tradition in Cebu. It will be held at the AsiaTown I.T. Park open area where there would be music by the Zubu Band, the SRO Band and the latest and the nicest motorcycles your eyes can feast on. There will be a motorcycle stunt show with a biker from Texas, USA, competitions on the loudest bikes, Biker Babes and slowest bikes. There is also the best customized bike Award, Best Vintage Bike and yes a Miss Biketoberfest.

While the National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs hold its annual Big Bike Convention, this is rotated from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. This is now the second year for the BIKETOBERFEST and when it becomes a tradition, it will become a major big bike event in Cebu!