Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Cordi guvs question 'criteria' for road funds
BAGUIO CITY -- Four governors of the Cordillera region have questions for Agriculture Undersecretary Salvador Salacop.
"Why isn't there an equitable distribution of farm-to-market roads (FMRs)? Why do some provinces get more of these funds?" Kalinga Governor Floydelia Diasen asked Salacop when he visited Benguet in lieu of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap. Yap was supposed to inspect North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (NLAQ) projects in Benguet and Mountain Province.
"That is true," Ifugao Governor Teddy Baguilat Jr. seconded and asked "Is there a criteria we (in the Cordillera) are not meeting?"
Salacop met with Diasen and Baguilat and fellow Governors Maximo Dalog of Mountain Province and Nestor Fongwan of Benguet last Monday at the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) regional office to apprise them of the NLAQ projects. However, he was not ready for the question posed by the governors. The questions on farm-to-market roads are very important to them because of the rugged and mountainous terrain where most of the highland farms are located.
"Mountain Province only received P5 million in FMR funds last year," Dalog said.
"So did Ifugao," added Baguilat, stressing his personnel have been constantly following up requests in the DA central office, but have been allegedly met with the bureaucratic run-around.
"The DA always asks us to present our plans for farms roads but when we follow up the projects' progress in Manila, we are always told to go to this or that department where our proposals usually end up gathering dust," Dalog said.
The governors hinted there could be something amiss in the DA national office because no matter how diligent they are in following up their proposals they end up with nothing. "What is the 'criteria'? Does the President know about this?" they asked Salacop.
They also asked Salacop to schedule a meeting with Yap soon so they could air these comments directly to the DA brass.
"We are not asking for an equal sharing of the FRM funds. What we want is a more equitable sharing of the money so we can also develop our farm sectors. In other provinces, the tramlines are immediately constructed, so how come our requests for tramlines remain unacted upon?" Dalog added.
Farm roads are important in the region because most farms are not accessible to main roads, which drive force farmers to hire additional men to manually haul the farm produce to the roadside. This in return drives up the prices of the goods when they eventually reach the market.
Salacop promised to deliver the message of the governors and schedule the meeting with Yap. (SB)
