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SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2017
Jimbo Gulle, Editor
Roger Garcia, Issue Editor
LGUs
mslocalgov@gmail.com
LONG ROAD AHEAD FOR DAIRY INDUSTRY
By Lance Baconguis
C
AMIGUIN—The Philippine dairy industry, which earns P100 billion annually, still has a long way to go to sustain the country’s needs, experts said during the 20th National Dairy Congress held here. The Philippine imports about $800 million of dairy products each year, with local producers only supplying one percent of demand, they added. Dairy is the third-most imported agricultural product in the country, and 85 percent of what the country imports is in powder form. The powder is then processed into liquid form before it is shipped for local consumption. National Dairy Authority administrator Marilyn Collado was blunt when she told close to 600 participants the country won’t be able to see “within our lifetime” the full development of the local dairy industry. “But we have so much work
to do, we must do scientific approach and best practices to be able to make an improvement in production output,” Collado said. Rene Martin de Guzman, NDA Corporate Planning and management Services Department manager, said the country’s dairy industry needs at least 50 more years before it can be sustainable to provide a portion of the country’s dairy needs. Dairy-exporting countries “took at least 100 years to fully develop their dairy industries” while in comparison, the Philippines is still in its “teen years,” De Guzman said. However, he encouraged dairy growers and farm owners to look
at the value of the dairy industry. “You are part of a 100-billionpeso annual industry, there is so much room for growth,” De Guzman said. NDA data showed the country only has 2.8 million cows and buffalos, with only 45,439 used as dairy animals. These animals produced 21.16 million liters of milk in 2016, representing a measly 1 percent of the country’s consumption. Collado said dairy production grew four percent between 2015 and 2016. “We are optimistic that these trends will continue. Sustained dairy animal production and high demand for milk and milk products sustained the growth,” she added. Juan Lozana, director of the Dairy Congress, also said the country has a long way to go in attaining sufficiency in dairy production. Lozana suggested that dairy farmers should focus more on the quality of their milk production while expanding their number of dairy cows.
Local Gov’t Units
De Guzman said while the NDA is doing all it can to improve the dairy industry, it is also in the process of reviewing its 2010-2016 roadmap and harmonizing its plans with the Asean dairy roadmap. She said the new 20-year map from 2017 to 2040 would be coming in. “But not without consultation of the dairy farmers, we need your input,” De Guzman said. The NDA is also standardizing the education curriculum for dairy production and practices in the country. Collado said they are working with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for that. The NDA is also undertaking a “Dairy Herd Buildup,” an enterprise enhancement program, a milk feeding program for children using locally produced milk with an annual budget of P300 million, and a milk safety and quality assurance program to help address the medium-term development goal of the dairy industry. Turn to D2
ISABELA TRADERS NIX RICE IMPORTS By Brenda Jocson SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela—The Southern Isabela Chapter of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed support to the Department of Agriculture’s moves against rice importation. Gary Chong, feed miller and PCCISIC president, said the chamber is supporting Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol’s position because the untimely rice importation would send palay farm gate prices plummeting once imported rice comes in during peak harvest season. In a Facebook-posted statement, Piñol said he is against any form of rice importation, whether government to government or importation through the private sector. He said there is no need to import rice because of the increased national average yield of local farmers. Chong said Regions 1, 2, 3, Davao and Mindoro is expected to exceed the rice production target considering the national average yield per hectare is now at 4.15 metric tons per harvest, up from 3.9 metric tons. “It is only rice millers and traders that would make lots of profit over rice importation, while farmers and the National Food Authority would lose money over the rice deal, especially here in Cagayan Valley where our farmers are expected to wrap up the wet harvest season,” Chong said.
SILLIMAN STILL IN LABOR DEADLOCK
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FUEL YOUR SCHOOL. Caltex’s multi-awarded Fuel Your School program is now set to help fund projects in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for high-need public high schools in the Bicol region. From July 1 to Aug. 31 this year, Caltex will donate one peso for every liter of fuel purchased in the 22 Caltex stations in Bicol, with the firm aiming to raise P3 million for the program. Signing the agreement are (from left) American Chamber Foundation Director and Internal Auditor Roberts Sears; Southern Cross Distributors Inc., Chairman Jose Mari Delgado; CPI Country Manager Peter Morris; Department of Education Region V Asst. Regional Director Tolentino Aquino; and CPI Manager for Policy, Government and Public Affairs lawyer Raissa Bautista.
‘TRAIN’ TO USHER IN GOVERNMENT REFORMS THE Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN bill approved by the House Committee on Ways and Means earlier this week is deemed as the means for the Duterte administration to fulfill its promise to break the inequality between the elite and marginalized Filipinos. Originally crafted by Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda, TRAIN is a comprehensive package of tax revisions and considered the most significant reform under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. Salceda said the finally approved TRAIN substitute bill drafted by the committees technical working group is “relatively not far from the original Salceda/Department of Fi-
nance proposal, with the inclusion of sugar sweetened beverage tax.” The House committee merged Salceda’s House Bill 4688 with another tax reform measure, HB 4774, authored by Quirino Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua, but retained most of the provisions as originally designed, including the unconditional cash transfers for three years. TRAIN has earned the popular support of both government and business sectors, the civil society and non-government organizations, and ordinary Filipinos who stand to gain from its package of reforms. The measure was approved with a 17-3 vote count, with three abstentions, and will be immediately submitted to the House plenary.
Salceda, senior vice chairman of the ways and means committee, said among the benefits the bill aims to deliver is the transfer of some P170 billion annually from the country’s rich to the middle class and low income households. “It represents the single largest direct transfer of wealth in personal income taxes [PIT],” he added. The Albay lawmaker. a noted economist, said the measure is expected to “ultimately reduce poverty to single digit, grow the economy by 9 percent, and transform the Philippines into an Asian economic powerhouse by 2028, with $1.2-trillion Gross Domestic Product.” He noted the bill’s pro-poor feature has lent it unprecedented sup-
port from both the government and private sectors, civil society and nongovernment organizations making it a better understood and appreciated piece of legislation. TRAIN carries a load of benefits for local governments. In three years, 40 percent of TRAIN revenues go to the Internal Revenue Allotments or IRA of barangays, towns, cities, provinces and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Salceda stressed TRAIN is “the only tool that could make the tax system more efficient, equitable and pro-poor, as the government cannot exclusively tax the rich because such a measure would immediately be struck down as class legislation.”
DUMAGUETE CITY—A bargaining deadlock continues between Silliman University and its SU Faculty Union or SUFA after marathon talks in the presence of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board of the Department of Labor and Employment in the Negros Island Region failed to reach a consensus. SUFA president Jan Antoni Credo said in a press statement the Union will “continue to exercise its rights protected and guaranteed by the Constitution and by the Labor Code.” The conciliation-mediation meetings started early this year after SUFA filed in January a Notice of Strike. The decision to go on strike was reached after the SU administration “failed to present improved counteroffers to the reduced demands of SUFA.” The Union, however, withdrew in March the Notice of Strike “so as not to disrupt the graduation exercises.” Credo said the lifting of the strike notice was also the Union’s way of giving the administration another chance to go back to the drawing board for two weeks, and reconsider its position in relation to the teachers’ reduced demands. The Union’s reduced demands include: improvement in the retirement pay of 1.5 or 45 days; bonuses of P5,000 for Founders Day, P3,000 for Christmas; class size of 20 pupils per section in Kinder 1 and 2 and 35 pupils in 1st and 2nd grades; K+12 faculty scholarship subsidies of P20,000 without conditions; across-the-board increases of P1,500 for 2017 and P2,500 in 2018; a one-time bonus of P40,000; and an acceptance of the Administration’s offer of a Productivity Enhancement Incentive but without conditions. PNA
NEW WASHERS FOR BUKID CHILDREN’S CENTER
BEKO Philippines, a global domestic appliance and consumer electronics brand, recently extended its support to the St. Mary Euphrasia Integrated Development Foundation Inc.- Bukid Kabataan Center at Sitio de Fuego, San Francisco in General Trias City, Cavite. The company donated two units of 11-kilogram top load fully automatic washing machines as assistance to the foundation, in line with Beko’s aim to provide the institution with more efficient laundry operations “so they need not waste more time in washing and [instead] spend more quality time with the children.” “Beko has always been dedicated in providing meaningful solutions that positively impacts communities,” said
Dyeun Zapanta, Beko Sales and Marketing head. “We saw the need to offer our assistance to Bukid Kabataan Center, especially when we found out that the volunteers are still using twin tub washing machines that consumes more water and drains their time and energy during laundry day.” Beko’s Top Load Fully Automatic Washing Machine “will help save time and energy” as it only consumes P1.37 per wash cycle based on Meralco testing, Zapanta said. “Surely this will not only save cost on the Foundation’s monthly electric bill but will also help provide cleaner clothes to the Children,” she added. Bukid Kabataan Center is a founda-
tion that helps at-risk children, especially girls ages seven to 15 years old. The center provides life-giving environment for its beneficiaries through a community that offers protection and fosters physical and psychological healing. Since most of their beneficiaries are at-risk children, the center’s program and services include providing for their basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing. It also gives counseling and eco-therapy, as well as activities that foster socialization. Education services are also given to the beneficiaries that are focused on building knowledge, fostering right attitudes, instilling of good values, and building capabilities, talents, and skills.
A Beko marketing officer demonstrates how to use the Beko 11-kilogram top load fully automatic washing machine to the staff of the St. Mary Euphrasia Integrated Development Foundation Inc.-Bukid Kabataan Center in General Trias, Cavite.