THiNK Journalism

The tree above (from coop-nscc.com) shows 10 branches where Nueva Segovia Consortium of Cooperatives, NSSC, is working/good at: microfinance, marketing, trainings, school, hotels & restaurants, coop capacity building, agriculture, social sciences, community organizing, and micro-insurance.  Wow! Why did I visit that website? I was reading today's Facebook post of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie: We were at the Nueva Segovia Consortium of Cooperatives (NSCC) in Caoayan, Ilocos Sur with Ilocos Sur Governor Ryan Singson, Cong Kabsat DV Savellano, Caoayan Mayor Gemma Golart, and DA Region 1 officials interacting with rice and vegetable farmers. Reading that comes to mind as an Ilocano son of a farmer – Ilocanos are rice & vegetable farmers. But perhaps, most Filipino cultivators of the soil are rice & vegetable farmers. Which means they are not monocultural with rice? Oh, they are, and that is where the problems come. The problems I see are that our farm

Yesterday, we were anxiously lost in paradigms! Today, we are in awe in paradigms regained! Billions, yes! The good news comes from the Office of Agriculture Secretary William Dar/Manong Willie. The DA Bulletin "DBM Releases P2.460 Billion For RCEF" says: The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) is now in motion with the release of P 2.460 billion for two of its component programs. The Department of Budget & Management (DBM), through the Agricultural Credit & Policy Council, released P 244 million to the Development Bank of the Philippines and P 180 million to the LandBank of the Philippines for the RCEF-Credit Program to be loaned out to individual farmers and DA-accredited cooperatives and associations. For the RCEF-Seed Program, the DBM also released to the DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute P 2.038 billion to promote, acquire, and distribute certified seeds of NSIC Rc222, Rc160, Rc216 and 16 other location-specific varieties in the region. Farmers lis

Charissa Luci-Atienza says "House Panel Forms TWG To Consolidate 16 Coco Levy Bills" (23 September 2019, Manila Bulletin , news.mb.com.ph ): The House Committee on Food and Agriculture formed Monday a technical working group (TWG) that would consolidate the 16 bills seeking the creation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund. Whoa! Ladies & gentlemen of the TWG, the creation of that TWG will still prolong the process of deliberations! Here's why: Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie says you must develop the roadmap first! How can you know where to go and how to go without such a map? Manong Willie has "Roadmap development is paramount" as #8 of The Eight Paradigms embodied in his "New Thinking for Agriculture" as his roadbook (my term) to the new PH Agriculture under him as Secretary of Agriculture. The lower half of the composite image above is the cover of my ebook, in Paradigms Lost, in Paradigms Regained , 269 pages, my

The 2nd time I saw this Facebook video post, "Tips From A 90-Year Old Woman" from Lifter UK, I decided to transcribe the whole thing – it's a total of 33 life tips, from "1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good" to "33. Believe in miracles." (You can email me for a free copy, frankahilario@gmail.com.) Tip #18 particularly applies to writers: "A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write." The only way to learn to write is to write! You can learn on your own, as I did, inspired by so much reading of the classics and westerns in our library in high school at the provincial town of Asingan in Pangasinan, and so much inspirational writing in the Reader's Digest . I'm into non-fiction, so now I can quote Shakespeare or Lincoln in my essays! The only way to learn to write is to write. Now, after teaching myself creative writing and becoming a computer nerd, I say: The only way to write better is to rewrite! Better with an Auth

Not to mention the professors of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, those who are working under the Philippine Coconut Authority, PCA; not to mention the agriculturists who are journalists, including me. (buko image from foodevolution.com.ph ) I have not heard from any genius in the PCA for a long, long time! And now the new Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie is asking for your coconuts, gentlemen & ladies. In his column today, "Leveling Up The Coconut Industry," 1st of 2 Parts (26 September 2019, Manila Times , manilatimes.net ), he's saying among other things: (1)   "Coconut water is one of the fastest-growing beverage categories in the global market," based on the report of the University of Asia and the Pacific, UA&P, and we have a village-level coconut water processing machine that could process 2,000 nuts into 2,000 bottles a day. So, Manong Willie asks, "What are we waiting for?!" (2)   Also according to the UA&

#YouGoGreta Go for Climate Justice. We have to make the big ones pay big for their common crime against the Earth! About climate change, if Greta Thunberg is right, and I believe she is, all those American activists' agenda – double-dealing public servants, transgenderism, abortion, border wall, gun ownership, illegal immigrants – are worth exactly nothing to be fighting for . Earthlings, we are going to lose this Earth! "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," Greta told world leaders at the UN climate summit. Oliver Milman says, "Greta Thunberg Condemns World Leaders In Emotional Speech At UN," The Guardian (23 September 2019, theguardian.com ). No Sir, the speech was emotional but the appeal was rational. Her speech was "very emotional (but) grounded in science", said Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Right! Hilda Heine, President of the Marshall Islands, said: Other countries must fo

Above, that bagsakan , drop-off center for farm produce, is in Villasis along the national highway and at the end-point of the Asingan-Villasis road (image from amaialand.com). I selected it because I am a native of Asingan, son of Lakay Disiong, a rice and vegetable farmer who did not enjoy the benefits of a bagsakan. My mother Baket Satur and others would travel with their large woven bamboo baskets (tiklis) full of eggplants and/or tomatoes to Divisoria to sell, riding hours & hours uncomfortably on top of those baskets carried by a truck. I see bagsakans are Heaven-sent! Most accurately, the new head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, William Dar/Manong Willie translates "bagsakans" as "wholesale drop-off points" (19 September 2019, "Attracting more young blood into agriculture." Manila Times , manilatimes.net ). Note, wholesale, which guarantees that you can buy cheaper at the bagsakan than elsewhere. The bagsakan, says he, for the farmers has

Among presentation apps, is PowerPoint the best or the worst?  Geoffrey James, Contributing Editor of Inc. , says "Harvard Just Discovered That PowerPoint Is Worse Than Useless" (09 August 2019, Inc ., inc.com , where the image comes from). Ah, Mr James, the iVirtual Guru says what you said is baddest. "Worse than useless" is an exaggeration. But "useless" is correct if you do not really know how to use PowerPoint – and it seems to me, Sir, you do not know! Mr James says: Intuitively, we all know that PowerPoint is a horrible time-suck. (Admit it: don't you groan inside when the first slide pops up?) And anecdotally, the world's top entrepreneurs (like Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey and Mark Cuban) avoid it like the proverbial plague. 1st sentence: Correct! Because people make it too detailed . 2nd sentence: The presenter has not learned any better! That is why I have written this. 3rd sentence: Those bozos do not know how to use PowerPoint properly!

On his Facebook page today, Tuesday, 24 September 2019, ex-Secretary of Agriculture Manny Piñol comes out firing loaded words: "Stop The Blame Game; Work, We'll Help You!" He says: Yesterday, I received calls from the media asking for my reaction to the statement issued by the new Agriculture Secretary William Dar blaming me for the outbreak of the African Swine Fever in Luzon saying it started appearing in May of 2019 but the DA under me did nothing. Nope! This is what Secretary Dar said, according to ANN (Author Not Named, 24 September 2019, "Piñol Blasts 'Blame Game' In African Swine Fever Outbreak," ABS-CBN News , news.abs-cbn.com ): Ewan ko bakit di sinasabi... August 5, wala pang incident report, pero marami nang feedback informally na mayroon nang obserbasyon ng mga nagkakasakit na baboy. (I don't know why they were not telling… August 5, there was no incident report yet, but there were already many informal feedbacks that observations have be

In the above image, shared on Facebook, PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie spoke at the 6th Regional Cordillera Organic Agriculture Congress at the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center, BAPTC, in La Trinidad on Friday, 20 September 2019. Among other things, he was saying:  Ako ay sumusuporta sa paglago ng Organic Agriculture dito sa bansa. Ang hiling ko lang, huwag nating gawing isang relihiyon ang Organic Agriculture. (I support the growth of Organic Agriculture here in the country. My only request is we do not make a religion out of Organic Agriculture.) My translation . "We do not make a religion" – I suppose Manong Willie is referring to fanaticism , where people claim that only organic agriculture will save the country , not to mention resolve the climate change crisis. Funny, but I Frank A Hilario am the one who first brought attention in the Philippine Islands to the concept of organic farming already being contested in the United States, through the

Since time immemorial,  you have been busy Accentuating the negative. Attenuating the positive! Positive: To accentuate is to rub on to a bright polish. Negative: To attenuate is to rub off the bright polish! Old habits die hard. We have been warned by Gandhi: "Your habits become your values / Your values become your destiny." Our mass media & leadership habits are why PH Agriculture has not emancipated the farmers from poverty! Our newspaper columnists in their mother papers and farmer leaders on Facebook continue their old habits of informing on the negative and ignoring the positive. Like today, Monday, 23 September 2019: Ben Kritz: "Govt Losing The Game Of Rice – The Manila Times" posted by Leonardo Montemayor on Facebook. Rappler: "Local Rice Farmers Are Suffering And Are On The Losing End Since The Implementation Of The Rice Tariffication Law." Posted by Rappler on Facebook. My points exactly! This agriculturist knows farmers have bee