THiNK Journalism

Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie says, "The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program (RCEP) Is In High Gear" (31 October 2019, "The 'New Thinking' To Expand Agri Exports" 2nd Of 2 Parts, manilatimes.net ); he then asks, "What type of future rice farmers could expect now?" meaning with the new Department of Agriculture, DA, under his headship. He answers his own question (my enumeration): (1)    Planting Rice – one crop, one promise. For those farmers insisting on growing rice and rice alone, the current production cost of palay (unmilled rice) pegged at P 12.72/kg, could be reduced to as much as P 6/kg. PH rice will then be competitive with Thailand's P 8/kg and Vietnam's P 6/kg. (2)    Planting Crops Other Than Rice – many crops, much promise. For farmers who are after Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita (heaps of harvests and heaps of income, my translation), they are "better off planting other crops." That is wh

Yesterday, Wednesday, was special, as it was the birthday of my wife Ampy, 74. Early this morning, at about 3AM, she has this note for me, with the instruction to write about: Sabi ni Father Monching, "para wala kayong (Father Monching says, so you will have no) REGRETS LATER, SHOW YOUR LOVE to your parents and loved ones NOW" (and that will include giving flowers while they can still see, smell and appreciate and enjoy them). When Fr Monching said that, it was Mother's Day perhaps in 1992. Fr Monching Carillo was the second Parish priest of San Antonio De Padua, Los Baños, Laguna. He was beloved of maybe all who appreciated the gospel interlaced with good humor in his homilies based on what he had observed, including basketball games, movies and TV shows. When he said, "So you will have no regrets later, show your love to your parents and loved ones now," whether it was personal or second-hand experience, it was sincere nevertheless. Ampy's note says: Pleas

Why should Catholics celebrate Halloween in the evening of the 31st of October? To signify Good triumphing over Evil. You did not know? Life triumphing over Death. I saw Lina Concepcion Luna Ilag's Facebook sharing of an image from Catholics@Work that said, "Your children don't deserve to look like these. They are not demons, monsters, or evil spirits." (They wore ugly masks.) Frank A Hilario: Did you know that Halloween is Catholic? Lina Concepcion Luna Ilag: Yup! It's Catholic. But not to go around as ghosts, demons, monsters! Frank A Hilario: Why not? To remind us that there are ghosts, demons, monsters in real life?! After the above exchange, I decided to google for more information. And now I have changed my mind about celebrating Halloween with children wearing masks of ghosts, monsters, and devils! Facebook sharing by Marian Pulgo on 29 October 2019 (I have translated freely from Tagalog): Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission

The image above that I copied from Shutterstock has the title: "Turn crisis into opportunity. The umbrella is receiving rain" ( shutterstock.com ). A paradigm shift: Instead of rejecting rain, we catch and find good uses for it! On Tuesday, 28 October 2019, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie spoke at the "Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2019" held at the Asian Development Bank, ADB, Headquarters in Mandaluyong City. Thanking the ADB "on behalf of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the Filipino people," he said, "the focus of this workshop group is to address the challenges that spring from the fragmentation of farmlands." Manong Willie is thinking of economy of scale in agriculture, where cost per unit of output ( P /kilo of rice produced) decreases with increasing scale of production (wider area where rice is grown/farmer). "The country's farmlands have been divided into miniscule sizes, currently averaging les

We have a new Director of the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agriculture, SEARCA: Glenn B Gregorio, TOYM awardee, NAST Academician and one of the world's top breeders in rice and corn. Image shows, left to right: Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, Director of SEARCA Secretariat; UPLB Chancellor Fernando Sanchez Jr; Education Secretary Leonor M Briones handing out the "scepter" to the honoree; his wife Myla Beatriz, and the 6 Gregorio children, 1 boy. Our honoree is both productive in research and real life! I was invited to the investiture, which happened yesterday, Monday, 28 October 2019, at the SEARCA Umali Auditorium, with country members/representatives of the SEARCA Governing Board in attendance. Mr Gregorio is the 11th SEARCA Director, and he talked of the 11th Five-Year Plan. The new SEARCA Director said: The key to securing the future of SEARCA is inclusive innovation and interconnectivity, that is – Academe-Industry-Government In

Above image, in Batangas City 28 October 2019, an Agr-Business Summit was carried out by Pump-Pinas and Batangas Province under Governor Dodo Mandanas, front row, white hair & red shirt; Manong Willie is the man in the middle to the right of Mandanas.  Partners. Sorry, as with other groups, in its own website, Pump-Pinas mixes Vision with Mission! ( pump-pinas.com ). Not with Manong Willie who knows that Vision is what you're dreaming of ; Mission is your Roadmap to your Vision; and Strategy is how to carry out your Mission . When he was Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, ICRISAT's Vision was Poverty Emancipation ; its Mission was Partnerships , and its Strategy was Inclusive Market-Oriented Development . "We are all in this together, towards a better society; we are going there using science that is good for the people and the environment." From Wikipedia ( en.wikipedia.org ): An im

111 years old? Not UP Diliman, no. In fact, it was the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture, UPCA, my alma mater, that was the very first college unit created for the UP System. On 06 March 1909, the UP Board of Regents created UPCA, now UP Los Baños. In activism during the American war in Vietnam, late 1960s, UP Diliman was first, UP Los Baños next. How do I know? I wrote and the Philippines Free Press published my poem about the My Lai Massacre. Relevance is something else. To the Facebook sharing of "111 Years Of Honor And Excellence," my comment was: "How about relevance?" To which Serge Francisco replied, "You judge, Frank. You're more in a position to do so considering you are still in the community." Actually, I have been in and out of the Los Baños Science Community since I came in as First Year student for a BSA major in Ag Education in 1969, or 50 years ago. So I can say I have had some ringside and amphitheater views of wha

This is my story of Raymund Mirabueno and his coffee farm in Mantibugao, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon in Southern Philippines that even he does not know! No, nobody else knows. Marian San Pedro says, "Coffee Farmer's 'Big Mistake' Leads To International Success" (25 October 2019, F&B Report , fnbreport.ph ). Mr Mirabueno does not know that when he planted those 700 Robusta coffee trees in their Mantibugao farm in Bukidnon and abandoned it 4 years later, that was the one that led to international success. In the above image (from Redjie Melvic M Cawis' article "Coffee Heritage Project Plants 3,000 Coffee Trees In Sagada," 24 June 2019, Philippine Information Agency , pia.gov.ph ), the gentlemen have cleared an area to plant their coffee – this is "clean culture" that we studied at the University of the Philippines' College of Agriculture in the early 1960s. Later, I learned on my own that this was wrong – this dries up the soil. If you

On Facebook, radio reporter Margaux Dragonessa is scaring people from eating pork! She is not frightening Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie (2nd from left) and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno (3rd from left) – they are all smiles and happy to be served pork no matter the Asian swine fever, ASF, scare. She is not worrying me either. (image from Facebook sharing of Manong Willie) Here comes Miss Margaux on Facebook: All we are saying is PROTECT, PROTECT, PROTECT. ✅Is it true that Swine flu viruses do not usually infect humans? Answer: Yes DISCLAIMER: 🛑 but rare human infections have occurred. The point is we don’t want to put our FAMILY and loved (ones) in danger. There is nothing wrong giving them proper and healthier option on food. If you are not affected and scared then it’s up to you ... this is just a friendly reminders thanks.   She is young , but her attitude towards journalism is old : "I want a scoop. I want to tell people what they do not know, what other rep

The Philippine Rice Research Institute, PhilRice, had a very good thing coming with its Palayamanan initiative in the early 2000s – and then no more. Palayamanan, palay (rice) + kayamanan (wealth); Palayamanan was rice-based farming systems, plural, a brilliant idea whose time never came! What happened? Time to find out, especially that new Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has called for multiple sources of income for each farmer. In a press conference after he attended the "18th National Vegetable Congress" on Tuesday, 08 October 2019, hosted by Albay Province, Mar Serrano says, "DA Chief Urges Farmers To Diversify Farming Practice " (09 October 2019, PNA , pna.gov.ph ):  Manong Willie said, "We need to formulate a crop diversification program to (improve) farmers' income." We are "a rice-centric agricultural country, but we can never just live with rice alone; we need to diversify Philippine agriculture." Palayamanan was

Yes, the occasion on Tuesday, 22 October 2019, was for the holding of the awarding ceremonies for "Gawad Saka" – Aggie Awards , my translation – for farmers and fishers who have shown outstanding performances in their fields. The one above shows a P 200K check for award-winning fisher Vicente B Lugagay of Santiago City. The lecture? Not scheduled but necessary! Because the farmer leaders of all kinds have kept complaining of the rice crisis and what have been happening to the farmers – as if the Department of Agriculture, DA, under new Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, has done nothing and continue to do nothing about the unwelcome situation. These farmer leaders can see a problem for every solution! I have been following up the happenings in and out of the DA, and so I know all about what Manong Willie calls the New Thinking for Agriculture . And those farmer leaders either don't know, or don't care. So, what did Manong Willie do during the 48th Gaw