Projects implemented for the agricultural sector in Bicol
during the last three years under the government’s Payapa at Masaganang
Pamayanan (PAMANA) program are now providing great help to its recipient
communities in the region, according to the regional office here of the
Department of Agriculture (DA).
PAMANA is a priority program being undertaken by the
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) towards the attainment of
economic progress in conflict-affected areas (CAAs) in line with the Aquino administration’s
peace agenda geared at ending internal armed conflicts.
The program is also described as a peace and development
framework that empowers conflict areas in the country towards attaining
economic progress.
From 2011 until last year, the program had already
implemented nearly Php.5 billion worth of projects that are now benefiting
hundreds of communities in Bicol’s priority areas and DA’s share in the
implementation came starting in 2013 when the agency’s regional office got a
total amount of about Php110 million for works focused on food security and
poverty alleviation.
Out of that 2013 funding, the DA-Bicol implemented in
Camarines Norte the Php54.2-million project focused on corn and pineapple
production in nine barangays of Sta. Elena and San Lorenzo Ruiz towns.
Its implementation involves social mobilization, preparation
and capability enhancement, farm input support, agri-machinery and post
harvest, land preparation as well as crop insurance and farm to market roads
(FMRs).
For Masbate , on the same
year, the provision of production input and farm mechanization equipment was
made a primary intervention to improve farm productivity in two
municipalities—Mobo and Uson.
Mobo had 11 barangays placed under the PAMANA and allotted a
total of Php4.2 million while Uson got Php2.3 million for four barangays.
Putting up of multiplier farms for the production of
superior quality breeder cattle for dispersal to pre-indentified beneficiaries
was the project initiated, he said.
For Sorsogon, abaca industry rehabilitation, Small Water
Impounding Project (SWIP) and the improvement of the Sorsogon Provincial
Nursery worth a total of Php25 million to benefit seven municipalities were the
DA PAMANA projects implemented in the same year.
In addition, for Sorsogon, the establishment in Gubat town
of mechanical dryer worth Php4.9 million; construction of two agricultural
tramlines worth Php6 million in the municipality of Irosin; and the
Php13-million concreting of the Colambis-Gogon FMR in Cariguran were funded.
Camarines Norte, Masbate
and Sorsogon are three of the six Bicol provinces initially considered as
“priority” CAAs and the municipalities identified into the program were
selected and prioritized based on the criteria set by the OPAPP, the lead
agency in the implementation of PAMANA.
The municipal governments in these areas have agreed to
provide counterpart funds for the projects they themselves identified as
priority towards peace building, CAA reconstruction and economic empowerment of
vulnerable communities.
Florentino Ubalde, PAMANA focal person of DA-Bicol, on
Tuesday said that last year, a total of Php147.5 in PAMANA budget allocation
for the DA was provided and ongoing projects under this include the concreting
of the Inoyonan-San Roque Heights FMR in Bula town worth Php10 million;
concreting of Gubat-Pinamihagan FMR in the municipality of Lagonoy worth Php12
million; and concreting of Zone 5 to Sitio Maynaga FMR in Tinambac worth Php7.5
million, all in Camarines Sur.
Also from this latest fund release, the province of Camarines Norte
Sorsogon, on the other hand, got Php20 million for the
concreting of Guruyan-Mangog-Catanusan FMR (Phase II) in Juban town; and
Gogon-San Rafael Road (Phase V) in Prieto Diaz.
All those PAMANA road projects implemented in support to
agricultural productivity in Bicol, according to Ubalde, are now helping
residents gain access to social services and reduce transport cost and travel
time from farms to markets in town centers.
Since PAMANA is additional way towards attaining economic
progress for the region as its objectives are based on initiating reforms and
development projects in CCAs in line with the national government’s peace
agenda and ending internal armed conflicts, its implementations are entrusted
to local governments, he said.
This is in response to the need to communicate these
initiatives of government for the awareness of the constituency that should be
highlighted and well-articulated as the primary tool to build the culture of
peace and development in communities that are resilient against the anti-government
whims of the NPAs, Ubalde stressed.
PAMANA underscores that building resilient communities is
one of the two tracks of the Aquino administration in pursuit of a just and
lasting peace, the first being the negotiated political settlement of all armed
conflicts through formal peace talks.
The program, which has been included in the Philippine
Development Plan for 2011 to 2016, aims to respond to and strengthen
peace-building, reconstruction and development in CCAs in line with the
government’s goal of putting a permanent and just closure to internal armed
conflicts, Ubalde added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=879835
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