Arguably, the what could be the primary problem of the Philippine agriculture is the fragmentation of its land resource. This single problem over-shadows the issue on the budget rope length or illegal entry of commodities nor importation of agri-products.
The former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Japanese agriculturist Keijiro Otsuka sums up the country’s agri-problem by saying “The decrease in farm size is particularly pronounced in the Philippines because of rapid population growth and partly because of the failure of growth of nonfarm sectors, which can absorb rural labor. If this trend in farm size reduction continues and the economy sustains a fairly high growth rate, the agriculture sector’s inefficiency can be a major constraint to further economic growth.”
The farmland fragmentation issue dates back to the First Marcos administration (PBBM’s father) and persisted till Cory Aquino’s presidency.
The present Congress, though, had passed one of the 6 laws one of which could be an antidote to the problem of Filipino farmers. Referred to is the new law that condones the unpaid debts of agrarian beneficiaries (ARBs) under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) or from other agrarian reform programs and laws. The condonation issue covers all unpaid amortizations, interests, penalties and surcharges. Under CARP, “the government acquired private lands and transferred these to farmer beneficiaries who had 30 years to pay the debt.
The New Agrarian Emancipation Act was certified among urgent measures certified by PBBM that caused the Land Bank to certify a total of P57.6billion for condonation. Debt condonation isa way to free the rural land market because if the debts are condoned, agrarian reform beneficiaries would now be able to sell or lease their lands. As stated by the president of the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF), Re ability to sell or lease translates to what FEF further said “That’s the important consequence of the condonation. At its face, it’s a game changing reform. . . it will enable farm consolidation through leasing.”
MY COMMENT:
The New Agrarian Emancipation Act is timely which agri-farmers had wished for the longest time. Indeed, condonation is the name of the game to lift the lowly farmers from the quagmire of poverty, low farm production and revenue. They, too, need to live a decent life – after all they are also humans!
oo000ooo
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Effective vigilance only when we are with God
THAT gospel parable about the 10 virgins (cfr. Mt 25,1-13) obviously reminds us of our serious duty to be vigilant at all times because God can call us anytime and we should be ready for it. We should also be very vigilant because all kinds of evil can come and assault us anytime, and can even dominate us.
Nowadays, cases are increasing of persons with some forms of addiction and obsessions, or of some forms of hidden bondage. They feel helpless before this predicament of theirs because in spite of their efforts to stay away from these conditions, they would just find themselves giving in sooner or later.
The question is raised about how to handle this phenomenon. And the quick answer to that is, of course, for us to be truly united with Christ. Like Christ and with him, we would know how to suffer the unavoidable attacks of evil on us. Like Christ, we can die as a consequence of these evil attacks. But again, if we are to follow what St. Paul once said, if we suffer and die with Christ, we also will rise with him. (cfr. Rom 6,8-11)
Yes, we are assured of victory as long as we are with Christ. It’s this truth of our Christian faith that should fill us with peace and confidence that things would just be all right in spite of the heavy drama we may have to go through in this life.
For us to be effectively with Christ, we need both the human and supernatural means. The latter would include constant prayers, presence of God, recourse to the sacraments, especially the sacraments of confession and the Holy Eucharist. We need to develop and sharpen these practices without let-up, because only with God’s grace can we truly deal with this predicament.
But neither should we neglect the human means. We need to keep ourselves occupied always, because an idle mind and a lazy body are the favorite targets of the agents of evil.
We have to remember that we have to contend with a 3-fold enemy: our own weakened flesh, the many temptations around the world, and the powerful spiritual enemies. In fact, St. Paul warned us that we are actually ranged against powerful evil spirits. (cfr. Eph 6,12)
It would be very helpful if we avail of some regimen that would keep us always in God’s presence and make us feel his love and power which he likes to share with us. For this, we should develop virtues like fortitude, patience, temperance, industry, etc.
Again, since people can be so dominated by their weakness, if not by something more serious, like emotional and psychological disorders, that they are completely helpless if left on their own, they may have to avail of professional care from doctors, psychologists or psychiatrists. Let’s hope that we can have appropriate facilities easily available.
Neither should we ignore the possibility of demonic possession or domination, for which the services for exorcism or deliverance should be resorted to. When people cannot understand why they continue to fall into the same sins in spite of their earnest efforts, it could be that they unknowingly are under the spell of evil spirits.
In the end, it will only be when we are truly with God that we can be properly vigilant and effective in warding off the assaults of evil against us and instead have the zeal to do a lot of good always.