PH Food Security Group

After 10 Days On The Road, I'm Back In The Farm!

The journey started Feb. 25 from Kidapawan City to Iligan City, then Cagayan de Oro City to Quezon on the 26th.

On the 28th, I was in Umingan, Pangasinan, a working trip which was interrupted by 3 days stay at the Urdaneta Sacred Heart Hospital because of over-fatigue.

At dawn yesterday, I was back in the farm.

Today, I once again enjoyed the scent, sight and sounds of my farm.

Tiresome? Yes but I love this way of life.

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Unquantifiable, Insatiable Greed Deprived Us Of Major Infrastructure Projects Like Patabat Bridge In Ilocos & Panguil Bay Bridge in Mindanao!

Passing by the scenic Patapat Bridge yesterday on my way to Piddig, Ilocos Norte from Roxas, Isabela, I decided to stop to film this short video clip of this amazing work of engineering.

Built by South Korea's Hanil Eng. during the last years of President Ferdinand Marcos and completed in Oct. 1986 under the administration of President Corazon Aquino, the Patapat Bridge remains as one of the remarkable infrastructure projects built using ODA funds.

There is no available figure on the exact amount of money spent to build the 1.3-kilometer viaduct but a proposed Patapat Viaduct 2 will reportedly cost P2-B.

The Panguil Bay Bridge which was started during the term of President Benigno Aquino III and completed during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte had a cost of P4.859-B, of which P4.27-B was funded by the Korean Eximbank (KEXIM-EDCF) while the remaining P587-M was funded by the Philippine National Budget.

Assuming that the Patapat Viaduct was built with the same amount as proposed in the Patapat Viaduct 2, it would mean that the two major infrastructure projects - Patapat Viaduct and Panguil Bay Bridge would only have a total cost of P7-B.

Both projects, along with other major infrastructure projects like the Cebu-Cordova Bridge brought great positive impact on ease of travel and economic development,

In contrast, the Congress-sponsored Flood Control Projects implemented over the last three years had a staggering budget of over P545-B for 9,855 flood control projects from mid-2022 to mid-2025 which hardly addressed flooding in the country.

That amount could have built over 270 Patapat Bridges or 100 Panguil Bay Bridges or 25,000 kilometers of Farm To Market Roads that would have contributed to lower food prices in the market and better income for our farmers.

In any language, this is unquantifiable and insatiable greed and this is a national shame.

What makes this more tragic is that the people who stole our children's future are just there, posing before television cameras smiling and preparing to run again in the next elections.

With their loot, they might just win again.

The fate of our children and grandchildren depends on us now!

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(Video was filmed and edited by the Braveheart Media Group)

Introducing The Calayco Red Rambutan!

They say that planting a tree is a guarantee that a man will be remembered by generations to come.

In our small ancestral lot in Bialong, Mlang, Cotabato, grows a Lanzones Tree planted by our late grandfather, Jose Cordero Pinol, which is now about 80 years old.

Lolo Jose planted that before my older brother, Patricio, and I were born, enjoyed its fruits as we were growing up and today stands as a monument to that poor farmer from Liboo, Di**le, Iloilo who opened a new world for us in Mindanao.

I have known many other men who planted trees, especially fruit trees, not because they wanted to enjoy the fruits but mainly because they wanted to leave a memento for their grandchildren.

One such man was the late, Honorato Cabacungan Sr., who even in his 90s still planted trees and when reminded that he may not enjoy the fruits of his labor said he was planting the trees for his grandchildren.

Another man who left behind a legacy by planting fruit trees is the late Mario Calayco, the politician-farmer who served as Mayor of President Roxas, North Cotabato.

Mario, whom I befriended in 1991 when we joined the Presidential Campaign Group of then Secretary Fidel V. Ramos, pioneered the planting of new varieties of fruit trees by bringing in seeds and scions of Longkong Lanzones and others during his trips abroad.

It was Mario who convinced me to plant Longkong Lanzones as early as 1995 and introduced me to Buko Pandan.

Before he passed away about three years ago, he promoted a new variety of Rambutan (sn: Nephelium lappaceum) called "Malaysian Jade" whose red fruits are bigger than the older varieties of Maharlika and others.

Another remarkable characteristic of this new Rambutan variety is that the meat is easily peeled off from the seed.

My brother, B**g, planted the Malaysian Jade Rambutan years ago and is now harvesting bountiful fruits from his trees.

Yesterday, he sent me the beautiful and sweet fruits of his Red Rambutan whose seedlings came directly from the late Mayor Calayco.

I regret that I had not planted earlier but it is not too late yet because it takes only two years for the Rambutan to bear fruits.

Last year, on my birthday, I planted 100 and this year, again on my birthday Dec. 16, I planted 72 seedlings of the Red Rambutan.

When they bear fruits two years from now, I will no longer call them "Malaysian Jade" but the "Calayco Red Rambutan" to honor the simple farmer-politician who promoted this new variety.

With the help of nursery operators in Kidapawan City, I will also lead the propagation of this amazing fruit hoping that in the future, with modern technology and huge volume of production, we could come up with a high value product, Canned Calayco Red Rambutan, similar to Canned Lychee.

This perfectly fits into our advocacy of promoting the planting of Fruit Trees for environmental benefits while creating an industry which would boost the rural economy and address poverty in the countryside.

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Exactly 1 Year Ago, I Planted This Malaysian Jade Red Rambutan & Today, I Was Surprised To Discover That It Has A Solitary Fruit!