SEN. Cynthia Villar yesterday opposed the plan of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to import P10 billion worth of inorganic fertilizers which she said can do more harm than good to agricultural soils.
During the hearing of the proposed P167.458 billion budget of the DA and its attached agencies for next year, Villar said inorganic fertilizers are composed mainly of chemicals which have harmful effects to the soil, which is already 38 percent degraded.
She said importation should only be a temporary solution to “cover our shortage, but the permanent solution is to produce our own.”
Villar said that in her hometown Las Piñas City, they procured composting machines which they have been using since 2002 to convert kitchen and garden wastes into organic fertilizers, which are then distributed to residents and urban farmers.
She said Las Piñas now has 89 composting facilities which can produce 89 tons of organic fertilizer a month, saving the city government millions of pesos in garbage disposal expenses.
“Sa aming bayan we saved P300 million a year para sa pagtatapon ng basura dahil nire-recycle namin ‘yung aming waste. Imbes na mag-import, eh di linisin na lang natin ‘yung ating kitchen and garden wastes. Gawin nating organic fertilizer at libre sa mga farmer natin (In my hometown, we save around P300 million a year to dispose our garbage because we recycle our wastes. Instead of importing, why don’t we just clean our kitchen and garden wastes and produce organic fertilizers which we can give to farmers for free?),” Villar said.
Villar said the country should also enhance its agricultural capability since the Philippines is now lagging behind its Asian neighbors.
“Yung mga articles na nari-read ko talo na tayo ng Vietnam, talo na tayo ng Thailand, talo na tayo ng Indonesia. Bakit? Bobo ba tayo na tatalunin tayo ng lahat? O mahilig lang tayo mag-import kaya hindi natin nade-develop ang sarili natin? (I have been reading articles that Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia are now ahead of us. Why? Are we dumb that our neighbors are now ahead of us? Or are we just fond of importing that’s why we have not developed ourselves?),” she added.
She said that instead of importing P19 billion worth of chemical fertilizers, she would propose to the Senate finance sub-committee tackling the proposed DA budget the allocation of P2 billion for the procurement of composting machines.
“Gusto ko matanggal na ‘yung P10 billion na pag-import ng chemical fertilizer. Nanggigil ako doon eh (I don’t want that P10 billion for the importation of chemical fertilizers. It’s getting to my nerves),” she added.
During the same budget hearing, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said he will push for the provision of additional budget to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), an agency attached to the DA, so it can procure more vessels needed to support local fishermen while at the West Philippine Sea.
Ejercito said there is a pressing need for BFAR to re-fleet so it can support Filipino fishermen benefit from the fishes at the contested seas.
He said the additional budget can be used to procure multi-mission and patrol vessels so they can supply food, fuel, and other logistics to local fishermen at WPS.
“I think it is very important. We cannot just let the militia vessels of China take advantage of our exclusive economic zone. I think our fishermen should be the ones taking advantage of the vast marine resources in the West Philippine Sea,” Ejercito said.
BFAR Director Demosthenes Escoto said the agency presently has four multi-mission vessels and 14 Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS) patrol boats used to supply gasoline, food, and rescue fishermen in times of calamities and other untoward incidents.
“We have submitted a proposal for the re-fleeting of vessels considering that these are already old. In fact, they were procured more than 15 years ago. While we have this number of vessels all at the same time, sir, they are not ready for sea. Some are actually being repaired. So, we are in fact proposing for a re-fleeting program,” Escoto said.
Escoto said BFAR needs three vessels at least every two years “so that probably in around 10 years we will be able to complete a new set of (vessels),” he added.
He said the estimated cost for a 50-meter long MCS patrol boat is around P150 million to P200 million each.
Smartmatic: DQ bid premature
BY GERARD NAVAL
ELECTIONS automation service provider Smartmatic Philippines yesterday broke its silence and said moves to disqualify it from the forthcoming public bidding for the 2025 automated election system (AES) project is premature.
In an interview after attending the hearing held by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Smartmatic spokesman Christian Lim said it was premature to seek their disqualification since the bidding process has yet to open and their participation still uncertain.
“Actually, we raised the issue of it being premature because we are still assessing whether, business wise, it is feasible to join the bidding,” said Lim.
The retired Comelec commissioner is referring to the petition filed by ex-poll official Augusto Lagman, former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) secretary Eliseo Rio, retired Col. Leonardo Odoño, and former Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines president Franklin Ysaac.
He said the multinational firm is still assessing if it would join the public bidding after previously serving as poll automation partner of the Comelec in the 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 polls.
“We’ve studied the Terms of Reference. But we want to see what is the budget. It’s doable technology-wise, but we’re still looking at the budget,” Lim said.
Asked if the constant criticisms against them will also be factored in the decision-making, Lim answered in the affirmative.
“We will consider all the collateral noise that is going around. It’s to be expected. It’s a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to the bidding process,” said Lim.
Nevertheless, Smartmatic still welcomed the hearing of the Commission regarding the petition of Lagman’s group.
Lim said this is because the hearing provided them the opportunity to give their side, and not just those of their critics.
“We are happy to answer the issues. For the longest time, we have been silent on this. We look at this as an opportunity to respond and give our side,” said Lim.
In their petition filed last June, the petitioners asked the Commission to declare Smartmatic as ineligible to participate in the forthcoming public bidding for the 2025 AES since the May 2022 elections was allegedly attended by “serious and material irregularities”, particularly in the transmission and reception of election results.
During the hearing, Comelec chairman George Garcia proposed the opening of select ballot boxes used in the 2022 polls and compare the counting results to the election returns.
“In order to settle this once and for all, I am proposing that the petitioners choose from the 17 regions the polling precincts and the ballot boxes. Let us count the ballots and see if the results will match those in the election returns or not,” said Garcia.
Smartmatic said it is backing the proposal of Garcia as it is a transparent way to address the matters being raised.
“We’ve always been supportive of the Comelec’s actions to strengthen trust in the electoral system. We are fine. We support the Comelec and it’s clearly within their right and power to do that to finish the issue once and for all,” said Lim.
Similarly, the petitioners said Garcia’s proposal would determine if they will push through with their petition against Smartmatic.
“If the results will match, then there is no problem. There were no irregularities in the last elections. Of course we won’t push through our petition since it will already be moot and academic,” said Rio.
Garcia said they are looking to hold the opening of ballot boxes after the October 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
