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LGUs
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
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Women learn how to make bags and other accessories from strands of cornhusks at a livelihood seminar in this file photo. Residents of Santa Barbara in Pangasinan are learning to do the same, making corn husking a viable third livelihood source after rice planting and mango farming, as another local shows (inset).
STA. BARBARA GIVES WAY TO CORN HUSKING WORK By Honor Blanco Cabie
S
anta Barbara, Pangasinan—This first-class farming town in the heart of Pangasinan does not have just rice and mangoes as economic gears for its residents: it has slowly become deeply involved in basic cornhusk transformation.
A great part of Santa Barbara, 170 kilometers from Manila, is fast getting urbanized, but the main economic activity remains farming. Rice remains the town’s main crop with 6,662 hectares, or close to all its total tillable lands devoted to rice farming, followed by mango, of which the town is famous for as the home of age-old Philippine mango seedling nurseries— the two are the only crops raised in all its 29 barangays. The third most important crop is a variety of vegetables, followed by corn. Legumes and root crops are grown in small quantities. Their livestock include several head of cattle, water buffaloes or carabaos, hogs, goats and dogs. They also raise native chickens for their food and some poultry farms commercially produce chicken layers and broilers. In recent months, the Agricultural Training InstituteRegional Training Center 1 conducted the Training on
Enterprise Development: Basic Corn Husk Transformation at the ATI-RTC 1I in Barangay Tebag here. The training, in support of livelihood projects, included technical and financial assistance for the RBOs or ruralbased organizations. The participants, who included 4-H club members and their coordinators, came from the upland town of Salcedo in Ilocos Sur, the river side town of Sudipen in La Union, as well as from Manaoag, San Carlos City, this town, and Mangaldan in Pangasinan. Sources say the training covered an overview of the course followed by the actual application on sorting, coloring, dying and drying of cornhusks. Various flower designs or arrangements using cornhusks were taught to the participants, with emphasis on quality finished products, according to the sources. There were also hands-on demonstrations on how to make different corsages. Other handicrafts made by the participants were Christmas decors, ropes, mobile phone holders, and bags. Sources quoted Jocelyn Ong-Perez, owner and manager of Crafter’s Joy Cornhusk Products, as raising words of encouragement in her message to the participants. Perez, of Basista town, not far from here, said cornhusk is a promising enterprise. But what is corn husking? This is the process of removing the inner layers, leaving only the cob or seed rack of the corn. Dehulling, as a separate process, is removing the hulls (or chaff) from beans and other seeds. This is sometimes done using a machine known as a huller. In Third World countries like the Philippines, husking and dehulling are still often done by hand using a large mortar and pestle. These are usually made of wood, and operated by one or more people. The husk is biodegradable and may be composted. Sources have quoted Perez as saying: “At first no one knows how to make it, but everything could be learned through training and practice to improve the quality of the product. And you must love what you’re doing.”
ILLEGAL CHARCOAL KILNS IN SAMAR BUSTED CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar—Members of the Catbalogan Community Environment and Natural Resources Office team recently destroyed charcoal kilns in the towns of Villareal and Sta. Margarita. CENRO officer Mar Torres said more than 45 charcoal kilns called “bulkan” in Villareal and “pugon” in Sta. Margarita were illegal, as they use mangrove wood for making charcoal. The “pugon” in Sta. Margarita can
produce more than 30 bags in a single operation, Torres added. The charcoal is then shipped to Calbayog, Tacloban and this city, where demand is higher. CENRO have identified the owners and are preparing charges for violation of environmental laws. In Villareal, children in first grade are already experts in making “bulkan” that can produce at least two bags of charcoal, said a CENRO employee who
requested anonymity, saying he was not authorized to comment on the issue. Provincial Environment Officer Elpedio Simon said an alternative job for these charcoal makers is planting trees under the National Greening Program, which has a P20-million budget to reforest the same areas like where the kilns were being operated. “There are people’s organization here under contract with DENR for
NGP, yet it is sad that they are still doing this,” Simon said. He also urged the coastal barangays to refrain from destroying the very mangroves that will protect them once calamities occur. Mangroves are part of “the most diverse ecosystem” as fish, crabs and other marine life spawn in them, he added. “It is absolutely illegal to cut mangrove species,” stressed Simon. PIA
Local Gov’t Units
TESDA LENDS HAND TO 19 ‘REFORMISTS’ IN LA UNION SAN GABRIEL, La Union – In line with the government’s massive campaign against illegal drugs, the Technical Education and Skills Development AuthorityLa Union provided skills training for livelihood to 19 drug surrenderees here. Marissa T. Alcantara, provincial director of Tesda-La Union, said the activity realizes what Tesda Director General Guiling Mamondiong’s about supporting the war on drugs by offering the drug surrenderees or “reformists” with skills training that would prevent them from returning to their illicit ways. Through the Skills Training for Employment Program (STEP) facilitated by Tesda, the beneficiaries gained a 26-day training program on Shielded Metal Arc Welding and entrepreneurship training to let them fully utilize what they have learned for their livelihood. “The program is an opportunity for indigent beneficiaries implemented at the barangays, communities to empower them to become employable and productive,” Alcantara said. The graduates also received tool kits such as a portable welding machine with paraphernalia, a training allowance of P60 per day, and certificates of training. “Based on the assessment conducted, the reformist are already qualified to apply for their national competency certificate for said skills,” Alcantara said. As a commitment of the local government of San Gabriel, the Tesda graduates shall be tapped in all the municipal projects that require their learned skills. PIA
BARANGAY CAPTAINS NABBED BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan—Six barangay captains, a barangay councilman, a former municipal councilor and an accomplice— all tagged as high-value drug targets—were arrested following a law enforcement sweep here. Joint forces of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Region 1, the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army arrested barangay captains Eduardo Alcantara, of Barangay Beleng; Roderick Casingal of Barangay Iton; Remato Soriano of Barangay Tamaro; George Balbin of Barangay Nalsian Sur; and Gildo Madriano, of Barangay San Gabriel. Gerardo de Vera, a former municipal councilor of Barangay Zone 1, and Jose Sandy Gavino, a resident of Barangay Tamaro, were also arrested. The joint police-military force found 20 plastic sachets containing suspected shabu weighing about 40 grams with an estimated street value of P120,000, two airsoft rifles, a Glock caliber .40 pistol, and a 9mm pistol with pieces of ammunition and several drug paraphernalia after searching the suspects’ homes. From January to October this year, 11 barangay chairmen and 40 barangay kagawads, or 51 barangay officials nationwide, were arrested for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, PDEA-RO1 said. In 2015, 65 barangay officials were arrested for drug-related offenses, an 18.8 percent increase compared to 2014 when 55 village leaders were arrested. Dexter A. See