Making It Fun in the Philippines

Here's another news that skipped me some time ago. It's been reported by Panay News that there are Negros Farmers that demand to stop sugar importation as well as other agricultural products . It was in Bacolod City which is the sugar capital of the Philippines. What's even more stupid is that the groups also asked for SUBSIDY OF PRODUCTION, CHEAP FERTILIZER AND FARM INPUTS, FREE IRRIGATION, SUBSIDIZING MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT, and marketing support. This is really nothing more than ECONOMIC IGNORANCE. It's pretty much like the demand for the prices of palay to have a price increase while the finished product has a lower price . If the cost of production is going to be higher then the finished product will have to sell higher. Again, it's just plain ECONOMIC IGNORANCE on the part of these NGOs demanding protectionism as well as a government subsidy. I'm amazed at how often the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. is demonized. What seems to be hardly mentioned is how th...

I remembered how I wrote that the 4Ps program in actuality is just like waiting for a shower of gold coins . Now, it's time to consider what Mar Roxas had said that he wants to put farmers in the 4Ps programs. WTF? Here's what he said according to Manila Bulletin: “Why don’t we make all our farmers automatic members of 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program)? After all, our farmers are poverty-stricken. In this way, some of their financial burdens are eased off while waiting for the rainy season,” said Roxas. "Seriously Mar? Where has your once brilliant mind gone to now?" would be a good thing to ask him. The idea of putting farmers into the 4Ps is disastrous. Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol had stated how people are just waiting for their allowances . Pinol's concerns include converting 4Ps into a livelihood program -- not a handout program. It has ruined the agricultural workforce. So much for saying that 4Ps will be good for the economy because of t...

Picture taken from Philippine News Agency What's causing locally-produced agricultural goods to go expensive? Again, it's the law of supply and demand. Natural calamities can't be avoided all the while people can be disaster-prepared . One of the biggest mistakes done by the Aquino administration is spending a PHP 70 BILLION budget on recycling government money through 4Ps when all that money could have been used for agricultural improvement . Why I would really like to blame the transfer of the PHP 70 Billion budget for 4Ps to why agriculture is in a disaster? Don't give me the whole " but 4Ps will generate jobs " excuse because it doesn't generate jobs! Instead, people in the farming areas would rather just wait for  a shower of gold coins  resulting to the neglect of agriculture. Why work in the farms when you've got a shower of gold coins, right? Farming becomes no longer appealing if all the people in the rural areas will have to do is wai...

Here's where Sec. Manny Pinol shows real intelligence vs. Rep. Tom Villarin of the Akbayan or better called as Akbayad or Akbobo Party List. Here's the issue about 4Ps which I wrote earlier as a program where people wait for a shower of gold coins from the government. To Villarin, getting rid of 4Ps will be an "extrajudicial killing" that will affect 4.5 million families. But to Sec. Manny Pinol, he wants to reform 4Ps from a handouts program to into a productivity program. Here's what the Business Mirror says about Sec. Pinol's proposal where PHP 70 Billion worth of 4Ps should be used for agricultural spending: THE Department of Agriculture (DA) wants to convert the P70-billion Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) into a livelihood funding assistance instead of a cash dole-out to help improve the farm sector. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the 4Ps is a “questionable” social program as it “reduces” poor families to “a level of w...