OZAMIZNONS don’t need to dig gold to take the edge off the worldwide economic crunch affecting them, they only need till their backyard and do crop growing to solve hunger and outlast the crisis.
These were the words of councilor Nova Princess Echavez last week, as she said that she wanted every resident to practice diligence and industry in order to survive.
“Sa panahon sa krisis, usa ra ang tumong sa tawo, survival ra. Sa akong nakita, very unique atong lugar kay anaa nato tanang resources. Ang atong katawhan sa kabaybayonan anytime makapangisda sila u gang sa kabukiran pwede man sila mananom,” she said.
But the first councilor said that if residents will only make use of the rich resources around them, they will get enormous benefit, citing for example the water system projects the local government installed in rural villages.
“Pero wala nato ni gamita sa pagpatubig sa atong mga tinanom, gihimo ra natong tubig sa panglaba. Hopefully, adunay makat-onan ang mga tawo bahin sa maong gasa. We will persuade our rural folks to plant vegetables,” she added.
“Naay advantage para nato kung maningkamot lang ta, mayo unta makita ni nga effort sa katawhan sa kabarangayan.,” Echavez hoped, as she assured this paper that she will speak to the agriculture and aquaculture officials on how to spruce up the seaweed growing business in the city and the undertakings in vegetable gardening.
A similar tack promoted by the provincial government named Food Always in the Home (FAITH) also promotes home and community gardening to increase dietary diversity and to achieve food security in the homes.
The said program is an offshoot of the Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP) pilot program in promoting backyard gardening as nutritious food source and serve as a community beacon for advocacy of a healthy diet.
The FAITH program has been implemented by local government units and non-government organizations in both urban and rural areas nationwide.
“We will not wait for the problem to overtake us. Let us focus on food production and let us not get ourselves affected by the crisis,” she said.
Meanwhile, Echavez’ attitude is also being shared by former city vice mayor Elvira Tan, who is also the Philippine Chamber regional governor for Northern Mindanao.
Tan, in an earlier huddle with journalists, said: “Ang atong global crisis is for real” as she mentioned that even in Manila and in several economic zones located in Northern Philippine regions, manufacturers who employed hundred or thousands of Filipinos have started to feel the effect of the crisis and were laying off their employees.
“Na feel na gyod nila because a lot of them are even closing,” she said.
A report from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) has stated that as many as 200,000 Pinoy workers throughout the country may be retrenched from their jobs.
The NEDA likewise revealed that about seven out of every 100 Filipinos, aged between 15 and 55, who want to have gainful employment, may fail to find a job.
In the face of the growing unemployment, Tan said the Ozamiznon can do his or her share by doing some cost-cutting measures.
“Magtoon ta og save. Kung kusog ka mo-load sa imong cellphone para sa call og text, minusi gamay. Kung mosakay ta, mag-carpool na lang kaysa mag-tagsa-tagsa. Kung mahilig ta mag-lunch outside pwede man magbalon na lang ta. Let us also learn to save energy, atoang minusan ang oras sa paggamit sa atong aircon,” Tan said.
“Together we can do something to arrest this problem. Kung dili pa man gani kaayo nato makita ang krisis karon sa atong lugar pero later ang cascading effect ma-feel ra ni nato,” she added.
‘Atoang i-condition ang atong kaugalingon even though naanad na ta sa kalisod. Matabang ra ni tanan if we only change our lifestyles. Ang gobyerno daghan man og programs to cushion the situation. We will monitor that theses programs will come to the provinces and people will see and feel that the government is doing something for them,” Tan stressed.
We, people can be part of the solution also,” she concluded.
Another report, this time from IBON, published in September, last year entitled “Philippines Vulnerable to Global Financial Crisis,” declared that government’s economic strategies have made the Philippine economy overly vulnerable to external factors.
“The chronic dependence on exports, foreign investment and debt– including official development aid that ends up as foreign debt– is at the heart of the economy’s vulnerability. Economic relief measures are thus urgent as the people will bear the brunt of the effects of the global crisis on the Philippine economy,” the article said.
“Drops in US consumption and investments will be deeply felt as the largest part of Philippine exports directly or indirectly goes to the US. Around 20% of foreign investment in the country comes from the US. Further, some 20% of exports already directly go to the US but a large part of exports to Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia which take up another 50% of exports, are actually components for assembly into products whose final destination is still the US. Slower growth in third party countries that depend on the US and which the Philippines deals with will also have adverse effects on Philippine exports manufacturing.”
“Even the vaunted local information technology (IT)-enabled industry will be likely hit hard because of its considerable dependence on the US market, further aggravated by the continued peso appreciation.”
“Slow global growth could restrain OFW deployments and slow down remittances which will reduce domestic consumption. The global financial crunch could also result in further cuts in the salary and benefits of OFWs as employers react to the crisis. All this highlights the folly of government economic strategies which unduly rely on external factors instead of creating jobs and producing goods by building domestic agriculture and industry.”
“It is becoming all the more urgent for the government to put a stop to failed policies of globalization. Beyond the immediate economic relief, much more meaningful over the longer term is to focus all efforts to build a genuinely self-reliant domestic economy,” it continued.
These were the words of councilor Nova Princess Echavez last week, as she said that she wanted every resident to practice diligence and industry in order to survive.
“Sa panahon sa krisis, usa ra ang tumong sa tawo, survival ra. Sa akong nakita, very unique atong lugar kay anaa nato tanang resources. Ang atong katawhan sa kabaybayonan anytime makapangisda sila u gang sa kabukiran pwede man sila mananom,” she said.
But the first councilor said that if residents will only make use of the rich resources around them, they will get enormous benefit, citing for example the water system projects the local government installed in rural villages.
“Pero wala nato ni gamita sa pagpatubig sa atong mga tinanom, gihimo ra natong tubig sa panglaba. Hopefully, adunay makat-onan ang mga tawo bahin sa maong gasa. We will persuade our rural folks to plant vegetables,” she added.
“Naay advantage para nato kung maningkamot lang ta, mayo unta makita ni nga effort sa katawhan sa kabarangayan.,” Echavez hoped, as she assured this paper that she will speak to the agriculture and aquaculture officials on how to spruce up the seaweed growing business in the city and the undertakings in vegetable gardening.
A similar tack promoted by the provincial government named Food Always in the Home (FAITH) also promotes home and community gardening to increase dietary diversity and to achieve food security in the homes.
The said program is an offshoot of the Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP) pilot program in promoting backyard gardening as nutritious food source and serve as a community beacon for advocacy of a healthy diet.
The FAITH program has been implemented by local government units and non-government organizations in both urban and rural areas nationwide.
“We will not wait for the problem to overtake us. Let us focus on food production and let us not get ourselves affected by the crisis,” she said.
Meanwhile, Echavez’ attitude is also being shared by former city vice mayor Elvira Tan, who is also the Philippine Chamber regional governor for Northern Mindanao.
Tan, in an earlier huddle with journalists, said: “Ang atong global crisis is for real” as she mentioned that even in Manila and in several economic zones located in Northern Philippine regions, manufacturers who employed hundred or thousands of Filipinos have started to feel the effect of the crisis and were laying off their employees.
“Na feel na gyod nila because a lot of them are even closing,” she said.
A report from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) has stated that as many as 200,000 Pinoy workers throughout the country may be retrenched from their jobs.
The NEDA likewise revealed that about seven out of every 100 Filipinos, aged between 15 and 55, who want to have gainful employment, may fail to find a job.
In the face of the growing unemployment, Tan said the Ozamiznon can do his or her share by doing some cost-cutting measures.
“Magtoon ta og save. Kung kusog ka mo-load sa imong cellphone para sa call og text, minusi gamay. Kung mosakay ta, mag-carpool na lang kaysa mag-tagsa-tagsa. Kung mahilig ta mag-lunch outside pwede man magbalon na lang ta. Let us also learn to save energy, atoang minusan ang oras sa paggamit sa atong aircon,” Tan said.
“Together we can do something to arrest this problem. Kung dili pa man gani kaayo nato makita ang krisis karon sa atong lugar pero later ang cascading effect ma-feel ra ni nato,” she added.
‘Atoang i-condition ang atong kaugalingon even though naanad na ta sa kalisod. Matabang ra ni tanan if we only change our lifestyles. Ang gobyerno daghan man og programs to cushion the situation. We will monitor that theses programs will come to the provinces and people will see and feel that the government is doing something for them,” Tan stressed.
We, people can be part of the solution also,” she concluded.
Another report, this time from IBON, published in September, last year entitled “Philippines Vulnerable to Global Financial Crisis,” declared that government’s economic strategies have made the Philippine economy overly vulnerable to external factors.
“The chronic dependence on exports, foreign investment and debt– including official development aid that ends up as foreign debt– is at the heart of the economy’s vulnerability. Economic relief measures are thus urgent as the people will bear the brunt of the effects of the global crisis on the Philippine economy,” the article said.
“Drops in US consumption and investments will be deeply felt as the largest part of Philippine exports directly or indirectly goes to the US. Around 20% of foreign investment in the country comes from the US. Further, some 20% of exports already directly go to the US but a large part of exports to Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia which take up another 50% of exports, are actually components for assembly into products whose final destination is still the US. Slower growth in third party countries that depend on the US and which the Philippines deals with will also have adverse effects on Philippine exports manufacturing.”
“Even the vaunted local information technology (IT)-enabled industry will be likely hit hard because of its considerable dependence on the US market, further aggravated by the continued peso appreciation.”
“Slow global growth could restrain OFW deployments and slow down remittances which will reduce domestic consumption. The global financial crunch could also result in further cuts in the salary and benefits of OFWs as employers react to the crisis. All this highlights the folly of government economic strategies which unduly rely on external factors instead of creating jobs and producing goods by building domestic agriculture and industry.”
“It is becoming all the more urgent for the government to put a stop to failed policies of globalization. Beyond the immediate economic relief, much more meaningful over the longer term is to focus all efforts to build a genuinely self-reliant domestic economy,” it continued.