EO 765: Good for bakers, bad for corn farmers

First published in MindaNews.com. President Arroyo signed Executive Order 765 in December 2008  claiming that  ”reduction on tariff on food wheat would help stabilize the price of bread and other baked food products.” Unfortunately, former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor said in a report that the order did not only include the lifting of tariff on importation of food wheat or milling wheat, the ingredient used to produce bread, but also on feed wheat, which like corn, is used as animal feed.

Excess feed wheat supply brought by the zero tariff has competed with local corn supply, Roderico Bioco founding chair of the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. told MindaNews.

The implementation of EO 765 has led to an estimated P6-billion losses in income for corn farmers and at least P1-billion loss in revenues for government, Montemayor, now a member of the House representing of the ABA-AKO party list, said.

The lowest price for yellow corn was P6.50 per kilo or P6, 500 per MT, lower than the production cost of P10.

The  Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) reported  last week that the price of corn had dropped from P 9 per kilo to P7.50 during a five-week period.

The executive order was effective until June 2009 but favoring sectors, including the livestock feed millers lobbied for the extension. The corn industry stakeholders such as the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. and ABA AKO party list lobbied against the extension.

Inihanay sa:Agriculture, Bukidnon, Economy, Food in Mindanao, Food/Health Related, Governance, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Mindanao's communities, Philippines

Valencia City’s ex-mayor Galario: from radio adversary to broadcaster

He used to be a staunch critic of the broadcast media, even padlocking radio stations in Valencia City during his two-term stint at city hall. But guess who is now a broadcaster himself — operating, programming, and going on-air in his own radio station.

Former Valencia City Mayor Jose M. Galario Jr. now operates DXVC, a new 1-kilowatt FM radio station broadcasting from Bagonta-as, Valencia City.

The station styles itself as a member of a network of radio stations owned by the Polytechnic Foundation of Cotabato and Asia, Inc. (PFCAI).

Aside from playing music, the station airs a commentary program hosted by Galario himself. He said its programming is not “scripted” and is determined to report the truth in the city.

Read full report here.

Inihanay sa:Bukidnon, Elections in Mindanao, Governance, Local Governance, Mindanao, Mindanao Media, Politics , Bukidnon, Valencia City

Bishop Pacana: Let there be no silence in the peace process

While praying for silence in the battlefields, Bukidnon Bishop Honesto Pacana called on both government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to keep on talking and never to allow times of silence in the peace process.

Pacana said the silence of the guns is not enough unless there is continuing dialogue between the two parties.

The bishop described to MindaNews the peace process situation at the moment as “experiencing silence.” He said the ongoing hostilities are a proof of that as he appealed for a continuing peace process.

He has called for prayers among the Catholics for peace as they celebrate Christmas in his homily for the first morning mass on December 16 at the San Isidro Cathedral.

He has appealed to the faithful to include in their prayers peace in the country, especially in Mindanao.

Pacana said even if Bukidnon is not directly within conflict areas related to the GRP-MILF problem, it has its own peace issues.

Read a full report on MindaNews.com.

Inihanay sa:Bukidnon, Freedom, Governance, Human Rights, Indifgenous Peoples, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Mindanao Media, Mindanao's communities, Mining in Mindanao, Nature and Environment in Bukidnon, Peace Process, Philippines

Good news that draws suspicion than anticipation

That the informal peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is due to resume soon offers a reflection in our role as informal observers of the peace process that gained hold, then lost it somehow.

The MindaNews report GRP, MILF ‘informal talks’ to start ‘possibly’ by Dec. 22 didn’t quite tell there is a reason to celebrate (even if the news comes before Christmas and a fear of worsening situation on the ground).

Of course any kind of talk is always better than any form of violence. We all wish for peace, not just for Christmas but once and for all –for good.

As much as we want to get excited, we can’t just lose hold off the ground. At one point this could be a genuine press release.

But it could also be to serve the interests of some parties.

We might have a peace talks fatigue but we also cannot afford to let war just unfold.

I am nosing for enough sincerity, the one that could get them to sit in front each panel and talk, and relieve Mindanawons from the stress.

Inihanay sa:Bukidnon, Governance, Lumads and Mindanao, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Peace Process, Philippines

Teodoro’s take on peace: be practical

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro wants to approach peace with a “strong dose of practicality, pragmatism and political realism” as he questioned the approach of solving the root causes of conflict” because “has any society been able to solve the root causes of conflict?”

He told the 8th Mindanao Island Conference of the Provincial Board Members League of the Philippines on Wednesday night that the first lesson he learned in approaching the problem of peace and order is to do it with “the backing of some values and some idealism and with strong dose of practicality, pragmatism, and political realism”.

Inihanay sa:ARMM, Access to Information, Blogging and Bukidnon, Blogging and Mindanao, Bukidnon, Economy, Freedom, Governance, Justice, Local Governance, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Mindanao's communities, Peace Process, People Power, Philippines, Politics , 8th PBMLP Mindanao Island Conference, Bukidnon, Malaybalay City, MILF, Mindanao, Mindanao conflict, NPA, PBMLP, Peace Process, Philippines, PRovincial Board Members, Republic of the Philippines, Sec. Guilbert Teodoro

Peace education, Mindanao context

Peace education is such a dynamic subject to teach at the university.

Chiza approached me for help to update the syllabus given to her by her superiors at Bukidnon State University over the break. One night we missed a favorite TV show just to gather and review the syllabi and lesson plans of previous lecturers of the subject.

We feel there’s got to be updating on content and context without veering away from the approved objectives of the course.

She decided on factoring in more of the Mindanao context in peace education using local exemplars, examples, experiences, stories, instructional materials, and lessons learned. (Photo by Bobby Timonera, grabbed from www.mindaNews.com)

Inihanay sa:Bukidnon, Governance, Mindanao, Peace Process, Philippines , Bukidnon, Bukidnon State University, Education, Mindanaol, Peace, Peace Education, Philippines, Teacher Education

The “Bukidnon Our Home” place blog

Since last month, I started publishing the Bukidnon Our Home blog (formerly Bukidnon My Home).

So far I am enjoying it and slowly it has gained traffic. I was contemplating whether I should continue a strain of posts that offered only the good news. The reason of doubt is I feel that Bukidnon people from around the world wanted to get as much accuracy of the situation as possible.

To add to the features of the Bukidnon place blog, I wish to link it with more bloggers especially the place bloggers of the province’s 20 towns, two cities, and 464 barangays!

Of course I decided to show bias for the good news but I will not blur on the bad news too.

I plan to appear in a meeting of an association of Bukidnon’s public information officers next month to share to them the potentials of blogging. The move will be an effort to reestablish link with them for my journalistic endeavors, too.

Inihanay sa:Bukidnon, Business, Economy, Mindanao, News , Bukidnon, Community, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Place Blogging

“Global disorder” at back draft of Bukidnon’s 2009 budget

(NEWS) “The future appears gloom and bleak,” Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri told the provincial board Thursday citing that the debacle of economic difficulties is real and could not be ignored.
 
Zubiri has proposed a P1.06 billion-2009 budget to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan but vowed to keep budgetary controls and prioritization of expenditures amidst the treat of a global recession.
 
He cited that the country is beset with “serious global disorder” foretelling a “downfall in the global capital market that “will not spare the Philippine economy”.
 
“There is an eroding confidence in the US financial market and growing discontent on the so-called American model of capitalistic economic enterprises,” Zubiri said in his introduction.

Inihanay sa:Bukidnon, Business, Economy, Financing in Mindanao, Governance, Investments in Mindanao, Life in the Plateau, Local Governance, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Peace Process, Philippines, Politics, Social Security

Eagles of hope

The Philippine Eagle Foundation has announced its plan to release two new eagles into the wild of Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park in January 2009.

This is despite the death of a Philippine Eagle named “Kagsabua” (unity) in July 2007, which it released just months earlier.

“What happened to Kagsabua is not a stumbling block,” a PEF official said in this report at MindaNews.com.

Inihanay sa:Bukidnon, Environment, Eyeing Ahead, Freedom, Governance, Life in the Plateau, Lumads and Mindanao, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Peace Process, Philippines

A paper fighting for survival

Cut-throat and new competition, lack of reliable marketing personnel, and the “global crisis” hit Bukidnon’s local newspaper over the past months.

To survive, a series of austerity waves splashed our small newsroom and over the past months it has affected operations.

Until one day, the publisher announced retrenchment or downsizing or whatever.

We will be forced to squeeze limited resources, go the extra mile, bid goodbye to some close colleagues just to stay alive.

This is the best time to do “magic” from little resources to big dreams.

Inihanay sa:Access to Information, Bukidnon, Human Rights, Malaybalay City, Mindanao Media, Philippines

Rethinking campus journalism

The better way to teach journalism in campus is to train them to write for life.

Perhaps, that’s a motherhood phrase.

What I really wanted to say is to go beyond competition mode.

The holding of competitions to test the skills of school children on campus journalism might have worked to a certain point.

But making the students practice campus journalism more might do miracles and fish more youth to the craft of factual reporting.

Inihanay sa:Access to Information, Blogging and Bukidnon, Bukidnon, Education, Freedom, Life in the Plateau, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Mindanao's communities, People Power, Philippines

In Bukidnon, medicine supply woes traced to price

The lack of medicines in Bukidnon provincial hospitals and health stations has been blamed on failures in the bidding process, more specifically to the Capitol’s low approved budget for contract (ABC) or price index.

It was reportedly pegged at 2004 rates, a provincial legislative inquiry has discovered.

This seems a simple problem of public policy. But what could be the reaction of every Jose, Caring, and Juana when they are told about this in the front lines, say, in the out patient department of public hospitals?

The public, especially the indigents, are repeatedly being told of the “no available medicines” situation despite the province’s supposed “award-winning” flagship program on health.

Inihanay sa:Access to Information, Bukidnon, Business, Economy, Food/Health Related, Governance, Health, Life in the Plateau, Local Governance, Malaybalay City, Mindanao, Mindanao's communities, Philippines, Social Security