Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

Solving Poverty

It is hard to believe and I can’t really believe that more than 50 percent of the Aklanon’s are living below the poverty level of living. But statistics show more Aklanons are in the state of being poor.

These poor people do not enjoy in their lives the basic requirement of a person to live a decent and normal life. They are short of food, so lacking of food nutrients, they live in houses that are congested or leaking. Their children go to school with inadequate diet.

When a family member got sick, they cannot buy medicine, cannot pay physician and laboratory fees.

To alleviate their state of living, the government is now implementing the 4P’s program through the local government units and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

4P’s means “Pantawid Pampamilyang Pangkabuhayan Program”. The terms used are more dignified but actually the program is to dole out money to the poor to temporarily provide their basic family needs as the beneficiaries are provided cash monthly. The only qualification to join in that program is to be poor. And of the 17 municipalities of Aklan, 14 towns are participating.

Does their participation in the 4P’s program dignify them? Make them non honorable? No! they are burden of society. They are paid without working. They partly live on charity of the people via the people’s taxes.

This 4P’s program is violative of the principle: “Those who do not work must not eat”, and the saying: “no work no pay”. The program also violates the principle: “no pain, no gain”.

But why some of our people are so miserable and poor? My friends gave the causes of poverty as follows: 1. Idleness, 2. Greed, 3. Diseases, 4. Extravagance, and 5. Disaster.

Idleness is the act of moving slowly or aimlessly; or the spending of time unprofitably, unemployed or inactive.

Can a man in Aklan spend his time idling? Can he be inactive? An idle man in Aklan is “lazy”. An industrious man has no dull moment. And any industrious Aklanon can always make life interesting and profitable. Unlike an idle man, a lazy man who tends to become poor and dependent, an industrious person produces goods and services, useful to society, dignified and self supporting.

Think of the flowers we offer to our love one. Most of the flowers in the flower shops are imported. If you are diligent and ready to work, put up a flower garden, sell flowers and have enough money for the family need.

Do you produce the chicken meat and eggs you eat? Or you don’t eat them. Do you have poultry farms in Aklan? If none, then the chicken meat and eggs we are eating are all imported from other places.

Buying from outside our province drains out our money, after we spent it all for what we consume but do not produce, that promote and hasten poverty.

In the case of rice, sometimes I believe we produce inadequate quantity for Aklan. If we have enough rice, why is Mindoro rice coming into Aklan?

Do we catch enough fish in Aklan? If we have, then why are fishes from Capiz, Antique, and milkfish from Batangas are being sold in Aklan? Of the 17 towns of Aklan, 12 are situated in coastal areas with wide deep blue sea rich of marine resources. Fishermen from Capiz are more often apprehended for fishing in Aklan waters.

Aklanon fishermen and farmers can produce the above named commodities and reduce poverty incidence. That is if they are industrious.

We will discuss greed, diseases, extra-vagance, and disaster next week. /MP