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| President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte, together with Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol, photo from canadianinquirer.net |
Ayon sa Pangulo, ang bagong-nabuo na Army Agricultural Engineering Companies, ay upang tumulong sa mga rehabilitasyon at efforts sa pag-recover sa Marawi City at Lanao del Sur.
Bukod sa Marawi City at Lanao del Sur, ipapatupad din ng Pangulo ang kanyang mga plano sa lalawigan ng Biliran. Sa ilalim ng direktiba ni Pres. Duterte, ang AFP ay pipili ng mga sundalo na kasalukuyang nakatalaga sa lugar na alam kung paano gagamitin ang mga kagamitan sa sakahan tulad ng mga traktora, planter, harvester at threshers.
Ang mga sundalo na ito ay ibibigay muli sa isang bagong grupo na tinatawag na Army Agricultural Engineers. Ang DA, para sa kanilang bahagi ay magbibigay ng mga kagamitan sa sakahan tulad ng mga traktora, planters, harvesters, threshers at corn shellers.
Ang kagamitan ay gagamitin upang maihatid ang mga pangangailangan ng mga magsasaka sa lugar nang libre, ang ibig sabihin nito, kung ang isang bayan ay nangangailangan ng mga serbisyo ng mga traktora, ang alkalde ay kailangang humiling sa mga Army Agricultural Engineer para sa kagamitan.
Narito ang kabuuang ulat ni Sec. Manny Piñol:
Presidential directive
ARMY AGRI ENGINEERS FORMED
FOR MARAWI, LANAO SUR REHAB
By Manny Piñol
President Rody Duterte has directed the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of National Defense (DND) to form Army Agricultural Engineering Companies to assist in the rehabilitation and recovery efforts in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur.
During a recent visit to Biliran Province, one of the areas affected by Typhoon Urduja, the President personally directed me, as Secretary of Agriculture, and Sec. Delfin Lorenzana of DND, to work together to implement the agriculture and fisheries rehabilitation program in the conflict-affected area.
Under the scheme which I and Sec. Lorenza agreed upon following the Presidential Directive, the DND through the Armed Forces of the Philippines will pick soldiers currently assigned in the area who know how to operate farm equipment such as tractors, planters, harvesters and threshers.
These soldiers will be reassigned to a new group to be called the Army Agricultural Engineers.
The DA, on the other hand, will provide the Army Agricultural Engineers farm equipment such as tractors, planters, harvesters and threshers and corn shellers.
The equipment will be used to serve the needs of farmers in the area for free, meaning that if a town needs the services of the tractors, the mayor will have to ask the Army Agricultural Engineers for the equipment.
The tractors will plow the fields for free while the DA will provide additional assistance such as White Corn seeds, rice seeds and farm inputs.
The strategy is expected to hasten the agricultural recovery of the area which has been adversely affected by the 6-month long campaign against a terror group.
President Duterte said that entrusting the farm equipment and machineries and the operations to the Army Agricultural Engineers will ensure that these will be used properly and the farmers and fisherfolk will be truly benefitted.
He said this will put an end to the irregularities in the past where farm equipment and machineries, including seeds and fertilizer assistance, intended for farmers ended up in the hands of local politicians who used these for their personal benefits.
"Itigil na yan. Ayusin na ang pagtulong para sa tao talaga mapunta," President told me and Sec. Lorenzana during the Biliran briefing.
(Stop that practice. Fix the way government helps so that it will be the people who will benefit.)
On Dec. 27, the DA will turn over the first batch of tractors to the DND for the operations in Marawi and Lanao del Sur.
Seeds and other farm inputs will also be turned over to the Army Agricultural Engineers who will undertake the planting in the areas served by the tractors.
By the First Quarter of 2018, the DA expects to provide more agricultural equipment and machineries to the Army Agricultural Engineers to enable them to serve the needs of the farmers in the whole province.
#Changeishere! #PracticalSolutionToSimpleProblem! #TulongNgGobyernoParaSaTao!
Source: DA Sec. Manny Piñol
