President Rody Duterte yesterday marked the first 100 days of his administration by handing out over P100-Million worth of farming equipment and fiberglass fishing boats to poor farmers and of Basilan province.
The equipment include cassava granulators and corn mills, tractors, corn and rice seeds, fertilizers, seaweed farming tools, and fiberglass fishing boats which were awarded to farmers and fishermen in Basilan.
This brings up to an estimated P1-B worth of interventions by the Duterte presidency when it comes to the addressing of food production and poverty alleviation in the countryside.
In his message to the farmers and fisher folks of Basilan Province, President Duterte promised to give more aid to areas affected by the war between government and several armed groups in the Southern Philippines.
“If you have issues against government, do not get angry right away. Call me or course your complaints through my people and we will settle the problem,” said Duterte. “Let us stop the fighting here so I could focus on giving the country more programs to develop our economy. I am just asking for six conflict-free years so that we will be able to move forward.”
Agriculture secretary Manny Piñol accompanied Duterte to the province which the former North Cotabato governor recently after it was recently afflicted by ‘cocolisap’ infestation.
“On Sept. 12, on orders of President Duterte, I travelled to Basilan to conduct a consultation and determine what interventions could be provided to the farmers and fisher folks of the province who were affected by the Cocolisap infestation,” said Piñol.