NEWS: Over 3.9K Lanao Norte rice farmers receive P19.7-M cash aid from Agri-10

More than 3.9K farmers in Lanao del Norte receive cash aid thru DA-10’s RFFA program.

LANAO DEL NORTE – The Department of Agriculture - Regional Field Office 10 (DA-RFO 10) led by Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado continues the third distribution of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund - Rice Farmers' Financial Assistance (RCEF-RFFA)

Program for CY 2022, in the province of Lanao del Norte (LDN) on May 2324, 2023.

Through the RFFA 3 program of DA-10, a total of P19.7-million was allotted to 3,940 rice farmers from Lanao del Norte, in support of the Rice Tariffication Law, strengthening rice farmers through financial aid, and underpinning increased quality and productivity of rice from Filipino farmers.

The RFFA 3 held in Tubod, LDN has distributed P5,000.00 cash assistance to eligible rice farmers from the province, assuring said farmers have registered to the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and tilling or owning rice area not exceeding two hectares.

On May 23, 2023, a total of 2,464 new RFFA rice farmer-beneficiaries from Lala, LDN received the cash support.

According to Nonito D.

Punzalan, a farmer for 49 years and a first-time RFFA beneficiary, the RFFA is a great help in sustaining his rice production.

“I am very grateful to DA for supporting us rice farmers through this financial assistance. This will really help us with the finances of our rice production.”

[Pasalamat kaayo ko nga nahatagan mi sa DA og financial assistance, kay makaabag-abag gyud ni sa mga gasto namo sa among basakan.]

Subsequently, 1,476 qualified farmers from Kapatagan, Maigo, Matungao, Pantao Ragat, Poona Piagapo, Sultan Naga Dimaporo, and Tangcal also received financial aid on May 24, 2023 at the Tubod Municipal Evacuation Center.

The third cash out of the RFFA in Lanao del Norte was realized through the support of the Provincial Government of Lanao del Norte and the Universal Storefront Services, Corp. (USSC). # (RLTolentino)

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Allow me to become very personal. I remember difficult, problematic and questionable times in my life and surroundings, where I almost lost all my strength to get down to work on those problems. Life's path became narrow. Fears grow: it's enough, it's enough! I am talking about personal matters. But, I also observe my people around me. We are all, yes, please count me in, we are all starting to become awkward and jerky. I am reluctant against the good ideas othes. I felt driven into a corner. Everything seems to have become a problem. Our voices bellow and our groans are becoming louder and louder.

Creating the life you want and dealing with uncertainty is not an overnight event. It’s in the little things. It’s having a vision. It’s making it compelling. It’s seeing it and feeling it with absolute emotion. It’s caring about other people. It’s calling to say “I love you” for no reason. It’s about taking every opportunity to connect. To be playful. To honor and cherish your loved ones.

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Kim’s Dream

Former Congressman Now CDO Mayor Klarex Uy: Liberating the Poor & Oppressed

Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Extreme Poverty

Not everyone knows that one simple act of kindness can go a long way in making life better to those who are living in extreme poverty. Perhaps, not even that generous leader has been informed how he is well appreciated by those whom he had somehow helped, humble as he is – thus, this sharing of some stories may now be in order how his kindness liberated those living in extreme poverty and those who were victims of ecological disasters. That disaster that happened on Dec. 17,2011 when Typhoon Sendong hit the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan had not only caused deaths to some 3,000 people especially those in the vulnerable areas; thousands were rendered homeless. A year before that, I was called “prophet of doom” because we in Task Force Macajalar were drumbeating a warning of that impending tragedy that thousands will die after I have shown pictures taken from a helicopter of some two hundred thousand hectares of denuded areas in Kalatungan-Mt. Kitanglad Ranges which were rendered without a standing tree after some six logging companies illegally and massively logged our dipterocarp forest for six decades. Those illegal logging activities stopped in the ’90 when we in Task Force Macajalar took direct actions through human barricades.

We were told by my best friend, Dr. Rabindranath Polito, Ph.D., a physicist, that one inch of rainfall in the 200,000ha. denuded areas situated in the uplands of Cagayan de Oro would mean one meter when the water reach the 200-ha. urban center of Cagayan de Oro. Thus, 10-inch rainfall would mean 10 meters. Dr. Polito was telling me that the flood water would even carry houses on top of the bridges. Being one of my brightest classmates in high school in Xavier University, I believed him, so, I drumbeat such warning in all meetings. But no one was listening and I was even called, a “prophet of doom” which became a headline in a local paper.

As thousands of poor families who were living in vulnerable areas were rendered homeless, the cooperatives came together to establish a 5-ha. Cooperative Village in Mambuaya with assistance from Arch. Tony Ledesma and the Rotary Club. Two hundred two-bed-room houses made of bricks loomed in that village but without roads. Without any hesitation, no less than Cong. Rolando “Klarex” Uy financed the construction of concrete roads. Now, that housing project for the poor Sendong victims loomed as one of the best housing projects in the country – Thanks to then Cong. Klarex. It was so amazing how the amazing Congressman then helped the poor family-victims. I as CDA Regional Director then was the one interviewing the victims. One of those were parents who narrated to me that after Sendong, the family just transferred to a dilapidated house which caught fire and three of their children died.

Oh my God, I told them from now on you will have a decent home. If not of the concrete road provided for by Cong. Klarex, the poor family could have not transferred to that wonderful village.

Three years, ago I visited Barangay Besigan which is just 30 kilometers away from the city but it would take me four hours to reach the hinterland barangay because there was no road. One has to take a long route, going around passing first near Talakag before reaching Besigan. Those living in that barangay, the Higaonon, Manobo and Talaandig Tribes were living in extreme poverty. Their products were bought very cheap, no access to clinics or hospitals, no school, no market and what have you. Thus, I went to inform Cong. Klarex who again did not hesitate to help for the construction of concrete roads. As it had become very accessible, Besigan has bloomed with IP students having access to nearby school, marketing of local products, access to health center and what have you. You can now reach the once isolated barangay in just 30 minutes and with that assistance, has drawn the poor tribal communities into the mainstream of development process.

What is so amazing is on how the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) not only from the hinterlands of Cagayan de Oro but those from other areas of Mindanao were assisted by the Cong. Klarex, especially in creating the empowerment path to be liberated from poverty and oppression. With the assistance of then Cong. Klarex, a series of IP Mindanao-wide summits were held in Cagayan de Oro City early last year. The Summits focused on how to liberate the oppressed Indigenous Peoples from the quagmire of poverty and oppression, carrying the title “Agaw Lupa, Agaw Buhay,” featured in PTV-4 in three episodes anchored by Mr. Ceazar Soriano in his weekly