Agricultural Sector Not Performing As It Should Be Because There's No One Advocating For Them - AAMBIS-OWA #19

As I stated in my prior 2 posts on the subject, our country's agriculture is a mix of small, medium and large farms with the majority of them small lots averaging about 2 hectares.

Despite that, agriculture is a main occupation of about a third of our workers and contribute about 1/5th of our Gross Domestic Product.

Crop cultivation is the main enterprise with the rest being poultry, services, and swine farming.

Despite its desire to implement reforms to increase productivity, efficiency, competitiveness, market adaptability, and sustainability, the agricultural sector's reforms have been hampered by inadequate resources, limited implementing capabilities of both national and local government units and weak coordination among the differing implementing agencies.

This has resulted in a significant decrease in overall productivity, high production costs and negligible government support. Add past and current environmental disasters such as the El Niño and La Niña phenomena that have hit us and the agricultural sector is in a crisis.
A crisis that has affected the crop sub-sector wherein farmers saw a 1.42% decrease in total production last year. While overall gate prices went up by about 1.81% hidden by that is the fact that coconut prices went down by 21.03%, coffee by 10.17% and Onions by 30.62%.

And even with prices of fertilizer down (for now) it has been offset by increases in the price of fuel which will, in turn, eventually increase the price of fertilizers in the future. This will be true when the price of oil in the global market hits $100 per barrel again and there is no reason why it won't.
These two elements are two of the biggest cost of production facing our country's farmers.

And despite our government's promises nothing seems to be done or if it is it only benefits those that have political connections or those that have big farms that don't really need government assistance. Often it's a case of too-little-too-late.

That's why it's imperative that our country's farmers are given representation so that they have advocates in congress willing and able to fight for what they need and deserve.


AAMBIS-OWA, number #19 in the party-list in the May 10th national elections are the farmer's advocates.

AAMBIS-OWA is a non-profit national organization of small marginalized farmers that started as a half-hour Sunday radio program in Iloilo that soon spread beyond the boundaries of Region IV.

As a farmer's organization, AAMBIS-OWA understands the basic problems plaguing our farmers from the farmer's perspective. It is their purpose to promote and support agendas that help uplift the economic welfare and rights of marginalized farmers and their families around the country.

Their legislative agenda is for the marginalized farmers and is centered on the basic and prevalent problems of its members.

Problem 1: Production is stagnant or declining

• Streamlining or overhauling of government and public institutions within the agricultural sector

• Linkages and partnerships to foster agricultural innovation

• Advocacy on agricultural competitiveness and modernization

• Infrastructure development, especially farm irrigation and farm-to-market roads.

Problem 2: Farmers continue to live below poverty level

• Technology transfer through learning centers to increase production output and minimize production costs.

• Training for farmers and their families on modern farming technologies and alternative income sources

• Research and development to improve cultivation, intercropping, production, processing, marketing, registration, and export

• Government monitoring on farming supply costs

• Quality control standards on all stages of the industry to gain better trading terms

Problem 3: Low farm gate prices

• Organization and support of cooperatives and farmers'groups.

• Integrated processing centrals owned by farmers or farmers' groups.

• Government monitoring on trading and pricing

Problem 4: Farmers and their families are without economic and social security

• Magna-carta for the socio-economic, health, and educational benefits of marginalized farmers and their dependents

• Crop insurance and financing

• Training and education for dependents, whether through scholarships or seminars, on entrepreneurial alternatives

AAMBIS-OWA seeks party-list representation in the House of Representatives to fight for a comprehensive and sustainable legislative agenda for marginalized farmers. Through a common voice, AAMBIS wishes to bring attention and to find rightful solutions to the grassroots of the agricultural industry.

It's not about asking for complicated answers to the basic problems of marginalized farmers. It's about asking for simple and essential solutions as seen from the eyes of the poorest farmers in the country.

Our farmers toil the soil in order for us to eat and for our country to grow and develop. Why aren't we doing more to help them?

Help our farmers so they can help themselves and as a result help ourselves. Their future is our future as well.

Give our farmers the representation and zealous advocacy that they deserve.

In the upcoming May 10th national elections give our farmers AAMBIS-OWA #19.

VOTE AAMBIS-OWA #19 ON MAY 10TH!

Agricultural Sector Needs Support - Especially Our Farmers - AAMBIS-OWA #19

In our country agriculture holds an equally important status as the other economic sectors. It plays an important role in our country's economic growth and development.

We have a total of 4.8 million agricultural farms covering an area of about 9.7 million hectares, constituting about a third of our country's total land area. While the number of farms has increased the total farm area has been decreasing.

This is mostly due to an increase in the conversion of farmland to residential and commercial purposes, especially near major urban areas.

This has resulted in the average farm size of about 2.04 hectares used for raising crops, fruit trees, livestock, poultry or in any other agricultural activity.

High cost of inputs, low price of produce, lack of capital and post-harvest facilities, labor problem, pests and diseases, an inadequate irrigation system, incomplete "farm-to-market" transportation network, along with low gate-prices add to the the main obstacles facing farmers today.

Lack of government concern and funding along with government foot-dragging, has also helped to further exacerbate the situation especially in times of environmental threats like the current El Niño weather phenomenon.

This does not help the small poor farmers who only net P12,000 for the entire harvest season.

Government emergency outlays are good but they are only a short-term patch and most of the time the money does not even reach the ones that needs them.

What's needed is the will and zealousness to advocate for the needs and concerns of the farmers of our country.


AAMBIS-OWA is a non-profit national organization of small marginalized farmers that started as a half-hour Sunday radio program in Iloilo that soon spread beyond the boundaries of Region IV.

As a farmer's organization, AAMBIS-OWA understands the basic problems plaguing our farmers from the farmer's perspective. It is their purpose to promote and support agendas that help uplift the economic welfare and rights of marginalized farmers and their families around the country.

Their legislative agenda includes:

• Streamlining or overhauling of government and public institutions within the agricultural sector.

• Agricultural competitiveness and modernization

• Infrastructure development, especially farm irrigation and farm-to-market roads

• Training for farmers and their families on modern farming technologies and alternative income sources

• Government monitoring on trading and pricing

• Crop insurance and financing
  

AAMBIS-OWA seeks party-list representation in the House of Representatives to fight for a comprehensive and sustainable legislative agenda for marginalized farmers. Through a common voice, AAMBIS wishes to bring attention and to find rightful solutions to the grassroots of the agricultural industry

It's not about asking for complicated answers to the basic problems of marginalized farmers. It's about asking for simple and essential solutions as seen from the eyes of the poorest farmers in the country.

Give our farmers the representation and zealous advocacy that they deserve.

VOTE AAMBIS-OWA #19 ON MAY 10TH!

Give OUR Farmers The Representation They Deserve - AAMBIS-OWA #19

Our country is still primarily agriculture despite our so-called claim to being an industrialized economy. While many of us are crammed into the main urban areas a good majority of us still live in the rural areas and support themselves through agriculture.

The agricultural sector divided into the different sub-sectors of farming, fisheries, livestock and forestry. Added together they represent roughtly about a third of our total labor force and contribute about a fourth of our country's total gross domestic product.

That's a sizeable chunk of our labor and GDP. And yet despite that the agricultural sector is not protected and is in fact threatened.

A major concern is the conversion of agricultural land into residential subdivisions, resorts or industrial parks. This is because land owners find it more profitable to sell their land than to manage it.

One reason is the lack of capital to spend on seeds, fertilizers and other essentials needed to make our farms more productive than they are currently.

Add to this is the lack of infrastructure support in the form of "to market" roads and irrigations systems. Because of this, most farm land lie fallow as farmers wait for the rainy season in order to plant.

And due to environmental damages due to illegal logging and mining, most watershed areas are already gone, resulting in water being wasted as there's nothing to keep and hold the water from the rains so they can be added to the depleted water table. The result is drought.

This is further exacerbated by the onset of the El Niño weather phenomenon. The instense heat is drying up farmland, water reservoirs and waterways all over the country. This has caused many farmers to stop planting in order to cut their losses.

Of course this has become a vicious cycle - farmers don't plant so they borrow to live and continue to borrow because they can't pay off their debt forcing them to sell their land to land developers resulting in further losses to the agricultural sector.

The result would be more importation of food in the future, especially rice - an ironic event considering we used to be a net rice exporter back in the day and we have the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños.

What's needed is government support which unfortunately our government seem reluctant to give.

That's why it is imperative that our country's farmers are given representation so that they have advocates in congress willing and able to fight for what they deserve. And AAMBIS-OWA, number #19 in the party-list in the May 10th national elections are the farmer's advocates.

AAMBIS-OWA is a non-profit national organization of small and marginalized farmers that understand the problems currently facing our country's farmers and has within its means the organization and ability to organize activities that can help farmers and farm workers around the country.

Their legislative agenda is for the marginalized farmers and is centered on the basic and prevalent problems of its members.

Problem 1: Production is stagnant or declining

• Streamlining or overhauling of government and public institutions within the agricultural sector

• Linkages and partnerships to foster agricultural innovation

• Advocacy on agricultural competitiveness and modernization

• Infrastructure development, especially farm irrigation and farm-to-market roads.

Problem 2: Farmers continue to live below poverty level

• Technology transfer through learning centers to increase production output and minimize production costs.

• Training for farmers and their families on modern farming technologies and alternative income sources

• Research and development to improve cultivation, intercropping, production, processing, marketing, registration, and export

• Government monitoring on farming supply costs

• Quality control standards on all stages of the industry to gain better trading terms

Problem 3: Low farm gate prices

• Organization and support of cooperatives and farmers'groups.

• Integrated processing centrals owned by farmers or farmers' groups.

• Government monitoring on trading and pricing

Problem 4: Farmers and their families are without economic and social security

• Magna-carta for the socio-economic, health, and educational benefits of marginalized farmers and their dependents

• Crop insurance and financing

• Training and education for dependents, whether through scholarships or seminars, on entrepreneurial alternatives

Simply put, AAMBIS-OWA does not ask for complicated answers to the basic problems of marginalized farmers. It asks for simple and essential solutions as seen from the eyes of the poorest farmers in the country.

Our farmers toil the soil in order for us to eat and for our country to grow and develop. Why aren't we doing more to help them?

Help our farmers so they can help themselves and as a result help ourselves. Their future is our future as well.

In the upcoming May 10th national elections give our farmers the representation that they deserve. Give them the advocates that will zealously fight for their benefit and well-being.

Give them AAMBIS-OWA #19 in the party-list.

VOTE AAMBIS-OWA #19!

Finally The Correct Decision For "Ang Ladlad"

The Supreme Court of the Philippines finally made a right decision. They gave "Ang Ladlad," the party-list group for Filipino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual group the accreditation that the Comelec denied them.

The Comelec had barred "Ang Ladlad" from taking part in the May 10 elections on the grounds that it tolerated immorality and offended Christians and Muslims.

According to the Comelec :"we cannot ignore our strict religious upbringing, whether Christian or Muslim, since the ‘moral precepts espoused by [these] religions have slipped into society and are now publicly accepted moral norms."

That may be true but isn't it in the constitution an article espousing the separation of church and state?

That being the case, the Comelec, being a government entity and thus a representation of the state should not use religion as a grounds for disqualifying a party-list group.

While the high court said the Comelec’s refusal to accredit the group “on purely moral grounds amounts more to a statement of dislike and disapproval of homosexuals rather than a tool to further any substantial public interest," it limited its decision to the accreditation question.

Well this was a big decision for them. And it's not surprising that they focused on the merits of the case and did not expand it from there.

The dissent has argued that the LGBT group are not part of what is defined as marginalized because it was not stated in the list enumerated by the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act No. 7941 (the party-list law).

The list includes: the poor, peasants, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, veterans, fisher folk, elderly, handicapped, overseas workers and professionals.

But now that you look at it, technically they are marginalized because aren't the LGBT sector also include the poor, peasants, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, veterans, fisher folk, elderly, handicapped, overseas workers and professionals?

If you think about it all of those marginalized list can be included under the LGBT sector. Don't tell me there's no LGBT in any of those marginalized sectors. Of course there are and so they should be represented.

And it cannot be denied that the LGBT sector is unrepresented and if "Ang Ladlad's" claims are true, that's 10% of the country's population.

That's a lot of people that are not represented.

I doubt if it was the intention of the framers of the 1987 Constitution for the document to not reflect changes in societal trends and actions.

Yes, LGBT is not considered an interest that is traditionally and historically considered vital to national interest but how the hell old is that so called tradition and history?

If our constitution was over 200 years old then I would say yes, we do have a tradition and history but for crying out loud our constitution is only 23 years old...where's the tradition and historical record?

And from what I understand "Ang Ladlad" is not there to promote homosexuality or gayness, they are only there to promote the rights of the the people they represent which just happens to be part of the LGBT sector.

Bravo to Chief Justice Reynato Puno for saying that, "it would not be difficult to conclude that gay persons are entitled to heightened constitutional protection despite some recent political progress. The discrimination they have suffered has been so pervasive and so severe … that it is unlikely that legislative enactments alone will suffice to eliminate that discrimination...In so far as the [gay] community plays a role in the political process, it is apparent that their numbers reflect their status as small and insular minority and are, therefore, marginalized."

Yes they are and it's about time someone points that out.

Congratulations to "Ang Ladlad" and good luck on the elections.

Finally Full Blown Electioneering Now Ongoing - It's Time For The Big Push

So it's official. All candidates national and local are now officially able to annoy the heck out of everyone.

Before we were just fed the national candidates' crap. Now it's time for the local candidates to get into the act with their own campaigns.

And it will be one interesting ride.

Of course the biggest issue is still that of the party-list system. What with Mikey Arroyo being the major player in that controversy.

In fact he has been challenged to be a "sikyu" or security guard for one 24-hour tour of duty. This was made by his detractors who of course question, and rightly so, his experience concerning security guards, other than being guarded by them.

Yes, Mr. Arroyo, much as it is a novel defense, being guarded by security guards unfortunately does not constitute experience in that sector.

Of course he did not say that - to do so would be downright stupid on his part - but I'm just pre-empting him just in case he thinks of it.

I wonder which group of security guards agreed to have Mikey Arroyo as their representatives? I wonder how much they got paid for it. Shhhhhh . . . I'm sorry I guess we're not allowed to say bribery in these matters.

If there's anything as absurd as Mikey Arroyo as a representative for security guards, it's cosmetic surgeon Manny Calayan as a representative for media and showbiz workers.

As one fellow blogger (and I appologize I don't know the name since I picked it out in the news) said: “[Calayan] must be imagining: if we can use pork to beautify our streets, why not use it to beautify the face of millions of starving Filipinos? We might be poor but we won’t look poor.”

To put it mildly: only in the Philippines.

Who Qualifies For Representation And As The Representative?

The Commission on Elections has just issued the rules on the qualifications of candidates for party-list representatives. According to the Comelec the nominees must prove that they "belong" to the marginalized sector they seek to represent.

The party-list representatives must be "one who belongs to the marginalized and underrepresented sector/s, the sectoral party, organization, political party or coalition he seeks to represent." They must also present proof in the form of "declarations, speeches, written articles” to show their active advocacy of the sector they want to represent.

That being the case many have questioned Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo’s nomination as representative of the party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy. Ang Galing Pinoy supposedly represents the marginalized security guards.

I do agree that security guards are grossly underpaid and overworked and they don't really get the pay commensurate with the risk that they take - especially those assigned to guarding banks.

They are indeed marginalized and need to have their own representative in congress but "Mikey" Arroyo as their representative? I don't think so. Let's face it I doubt he has ever wondered about the plight of security guards until this election.

I think that he, as with most politicians, seemingly take for granted the presence of these people who risk their lives to protect the assets of these same politicians.

LP senatorial candidate, Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said hardworking security guards had “the right to be represented by someone credible, trustworthy and a member of their ranks."

That is how it should be.

I mean let's face it, Mikey Arroyo hasn't experienced being a security guard although he has experienced being guarded by one so I guess for him that counts as being part of that marginalized group.

He hires them to protect his assets so I guess he is part of that sector. Wow what a dillusional premise indeed. Ah wait he is a politician so that's normal.

Power hungry? Of course. And the best example is maybe-soon-to-be former president Gloria M. Arroyo. I say maybe because I don't believe she will go away that quietly. Power hungry? Yes she is the prime example of one - discounting former president Ferdinand Marcos.

It doesn't help that there is no law defining what a "marginalized" sector is. This makes it hard for the Comelec to figure out who can and can't be representatives. That said it's no surprise they have no problems agreeing that Mikey Arroyo can be a nominee.

Retired associate justice of the Supreme Court, Comelec Chair Jose Melo said that limiting party-list nominees to members of marginalized groups is not wise. He used the example of tricycle drivers who would make one of their own a representative. He argues that if it's someone who can't read or right then it would be hopeless. "They should have somebody who is educated to speak for them,” Melo said.

But is that always the best way Mr. Melo? I seem to remember that we have a lot of seemingly "educated" people in congress but I haven't seen any laws they passed that really help our country. They seem to find protecting their respective "educated" asses a much better thing to do instead of helping the country and its people.

And supposedly have an "educated" president but look where that brought us. Let's be honest about it: an "educated" politician is a "dumb" politician. The only "educated" thing they ever do is to steal money from the country without getting put away. In that regard they are "educated."

As for the Comelec guidelines it seems that it will only allow citizens to oppose the candidacy of nominees who they believe are not qualified to represent a marginalized group. Basically, it seems that if no one complains the nothing will be done.

So that's why some party-list are still there. So if there is really no law defining what a "marginalized" sector is, then why was the Disabled Pinoy Party (DPP), a party-list to represent the disabled people in the country, barred from being part of the polls?

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that they were not convinced that the DPP could do a nationwide campaign because it did not have the organizational structure to do so.

Ironic since it was also Larrazabal who underscored the need for the participation of disabled people in the national elections.

Backtracking are we Commissioner Larrazabal? So disabled people are only good for votes but not as the people's representatives? Who are you to decide whether they should or should not be represented.

Let the electorate decide that for them. If they can't mount a national campaign then it's on them. Why keep them from running just because you think they can't. Aren't you hypocritical here. Not to mention discriminating.

It seems Comelec can't get anything right. Oh well I wouldn't be surprised about a failed election should there be one. After all, we have the "educated" commissioners of the Comelec running the show.