Spend the money right

Ben Contreras .

THE Pangtawid Gutom program or 4Ps leaves a lot of questions on whether it makes poor people become dependent and lazy or not, whether it has become politicized by giving preference to political allies, and most importantly, is the money spent for the purpose as intended or simply wasted on something else than for the stomach?

Criticize it and one might be accused of being anti-poor. But the money would be put to better use if used to help the poor till their farms. And when the government finally decides to change gears, the concerned agency should see to it that the people who decide to go farming will get the assistance they deserve like what other countries are doing.

Farmers feed the nation. They deserve to be aided with their needs to produce food — farm implements, fertilizers, new technology, fair price for their produce and better roads for transportation. But farmers who get these support from the government but squander the aid provided by the government should be prosecuted and jailed for their sins.

It is sometimes ironic to watch China making deserts green with farm produce while we, surrounded by water and having very fertile soil, are lagging behind in food production. Neighboring Asian countries learned from us decades ago but now, we import rice from them.

China has a serious reforestation program that resulted in lush forest after 50 years. Here, we have a billion worth of reforestation program during the time of Environment Secretary Ramon Paje which is shrouded with questions if not, corruption. We plant trees but there is no follow through. We can’t even account for the number of seedlings and how the program progresses. It seems like nobody cares. Is it because the corrupt have already shared the loot?

What this country lacks is certainty of punishment. We are good only with politics — too much, in fact. We are good with slogans but do not act.

I hope when people around our President are accused and found guilty, they will not just be removed or reassigned somewhere but prosecuted and duly punished. A leader needs to act by example. Otherwise, his men will drag him down faster than his enemies could.

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol suggested that the 4Ps money be put to better use in agriculture. Piñol has so far shown sincerity and efficiency in his job. He is the least controversial, too. He might just do the trick.

China cannot stop producing food to feed her people. We can’t, too. We are now standing at P120 million and it’s going to multiply faster than we can imagine. With so much mouths to feed, we can’t afford to be complacent and idle.

Hunger breeds anger, helplessness and restlessness. Let’s help our farmers and encourage people to plant.

***

The raid on counterfeit cigarette brands in Cugman and in Misamis Oriental was good intelligence work. Kudos to our Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Caraga and other government agents for a job well done!

The outcome of the raids speak of the hugeness of the group behind it. These are moneyed people who probably boast of connections.

I hope to see the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency do the same thing. I am sure they are not lacking in information and intelligence information.