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Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Aloguinsan goes hi-tech farming
By Lorenzo P. Niñal
‘Isolated’ from the rest of province, town learns to survive with little outside help
A VISITOR in Aloguinsan, Cebu swore never to drop by the place again. There’s just nothing in this fifth-class municipality to excite the senses, nothing to stir the imagination, she said.
Aloguinsan Mayor Cynthia Moreno knows the little promise her town offers for business and leisure, two things that a visitor looks for in a place.
There are no resorts, no restaurants, no lodging houses, no factories and industrial facilities.
“Luoy kaayo ni among lungsod. Wala mi ikapang-hambog. Walay interasado namo diri (There’s nothing here to attract investors. Nobody’s interested in us),” she told a Sun.Star team who visited her in her residence last Sunday.
For one, the province’s road network seemed to have isolated Aloguinsan from the rest of the island. There’s no decent road that connects it to the more progressive towns of Barili in the south and Carcar in the east. A paved road connects it to its nearest neighbor Pinamungajan in the north, but it’s a long route in going to Cebu City.
Kantabogon
There’s not even a road that connects it to a small cove of white sand in Barangay Kanta-bogon, the only place in the western town that shows some promise for tourism.
Motorists, therefore, don’t pass by Aloguinsan unless it’s their destination, like the few buses that ply the Cebu City-Pinamungajan-via-Carcar route. Even then, these buses have to contend with traveling on a narrow winding dirt road from Mantalongon, Barili to Aloguinsan, stopping every three minutes or so to pick up or unload passengers.
Moreno envisions a road that cuts straight across its boundary with Carcar without having to pass by Mantalongon. She said this will make Aloguinsan the nearest to Cebu City among the third district towns in terms of travel time.
But for a town whose annual income is barely enough for its operational expenses, Moreno knows no road can be built without funding from outside, the senators and congressmen perhaps.
But what politician would be interested in Aloguinsan?
“If they help us, what will they get from us in return? Mangita man gyud na’g bawos (They will surely want something)” Moreno said.
No false hopes
Moreno’s opinion of her town is not to be understood as fatalistic. For her, accepting Aloguinsan’s limitations is the only way to start a change.
“We should not operate on false hopes. We should not lie to ourselves. This town is poor. We’re isolated here. That’s the truth. Now, we work our way to the top,” Moreno said in Cebuano.
According to the 1995 census, the townsfolk number about 22,000. Seventy-five to 80 percent of the population consider themselves farmers, Moreno said. But ironically, these people don’t get their income from the farm but from other sources, like employment in construction companies. They till the land for their own consumption.
Moreno wants their farms to yield harvests for commerce. With the help of agriculturist Romulo Davide of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, Moreno has trained the mountainfolk on scientific farming to increase corn harvest.
Scientific farming makes use of research and the advances of technology in increasing harvests and improving the quality of farm goods.
Its farming methods try to improve on nature by boosting the short-term abilities of plants to fight disease, absorb nutrients from soil and fertilizers and provide better yields.
All 15 barangays now have farmers who can compete with other towns in corn production, Moreno said.
Mangos too
Moreno said the municipality loans assistance to the farmers, including fertilizers, “to be paid when able.”
Moreno also envisions mango plantations in the town. She plans to tap the help of the Department of Agriculture in the region for a long-term program on mango production.
Other plans include building a nature’s park at the back of the Municipal Hall, where the old and neglected “Baluarte” is located. The place overlooks Tañon Strait and features the ruins of a watchtower that dates centuries back.
Moreno also plans to finish a reclamation project to house a modern public market and other commercial buildings.
“These are all plans for now. We will have to look for ways to implement them,” she said.
In the meantime, a visitor to Aloguinsan is advised to bring provisions with him, or he’ll starve until the next bus brings him to the next town.
(February 11, 2004 issue)
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