Wednesday, April 30, 2008 President Arroyo praises Capitol on SakSak project
PRESIDENT Arroyo praised the Cebu Provincial Government for coming up with a program to help address the rice crisis.
President also ordered the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) in Central Visayas to coordinate with the Province for the promotion of the Capitol-based food program “SakSak,” which stands for “Sinanduloy sa Kabusog, Sinanduloy sa Kahimsog.”
The program aims to increase crop harvest, provide nutritious food to every household and make full use of underutilized agricultural lands in the Province.
Supportive
“The President was made aware of the “SakSak” program and she was very, very excited and supportive about it,” Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia told a press conference yesterday.
The President was in Cebu yesterday and Monday for various affairs, including the inauguration of the Bogo City port.
Arroyo also ordered the immediate transfer of government-subsidized rice to far-flung barangays.
Doing something
“It was a case of the President listening to a local government unit doing something about the crisis instead of complaining about it,” Garcia said.
Sen. Richard Gordon was supposed to visit the Capitol yesterday to promote “SakSak.” But Garcia said the senator got sick and called off the visit.
Gordon is reported to be interested in having Garcia as running mate in the 2010 presidential elections.
Garcia said Gordon wanted to come to Cebu to witness the “Saksak.” She said she and the senator talked about the program during the 487th commemoration of Battle of Mactan at Rizal Park in Manila last Sunday.
Capitol recently released P100, 000 as financial assistance to each town in the Province for the implementation of “Saksak.”
Garcia also called on local government units (LGU) to work to cushion the effect of the rice price crisis on the public.
The Provincial Government also released an additional P100,000 as financial aid to any LGU who will decide to run a National Food Authority (NFA) outlet.
The NFA approved the request of Garcia and local officials to allow municipal welfare offices to distribute low-cost rice to make it accessible to the “poorest of the poor.”
The NFA limits the allocation to 30 bags of rice per week to each town.
Capitol, LGUs and NFA earlier entered into a memorandum of agreement for the undertaking. (GMD)
