Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

CONGRATULATIONS!

MAYOR REFOL

Congratulations for Mayor Denny Refol of Altavas for being the first mayor from among the 17 towns of Aklan to provide the Aklan Provincial Agriculture and Fishery Council (PAFC) of a copy of its Ordinance Prohibiting the Burning of Rice Straw.
As chair of the PAFC Aklan, I have requested all the honorable mayors of Aklan to spare me a copy of their respective municipal ordinance which prohibits the burning of rice straw if they have enacted one. I sent the request sometime in February via letter request. My success is 1/17 or 5 percent only.
Burning rice straw is destroying plant food nutrient equivalent to one bag of complete fertilizer for every one hectare rice straw burned. Moreover, organic matter is also destroyed.
If I think of the civil service law on Ethical Standard for Public Officials and Employees, the 16 municipal mayors of Aklan must have violated the provision which mandates public officials and employees to act on matters brought to their office for action within 15 working days. The action maybe positive or negative or even just acknowledgement of the receipt of the matter.
But mayors are honorable persons, they are elected by the people. They are the people who applied to be mayors during elections. They promise to provide the best services to the people 24 hours a day. However, after the election, the promises are "Gone With The Wind". God forbids, let it not happen from this election. I hope our candidates for mayor in the 16 towns can respond to my request after the election.
PAFC is created to assist the government specifically the Department of Agriculture in the monitoring of programs, projects and activities, analyze results of those programs, projects and activities and submit recommendations. Aklan PAFC is aware of some towns with municipal ordinance which prohibits the burning of garbage, specifically rice straw. However, with those ordinances, rice straw burning is still highly popular among Aklanon farmers.
PAFC Aklan has considered to study waste burning, how to minimize if not stop it. Burning is resource destruction, increases global warming and enhances imbalance ecology.
BRIDGE AT IBAJAY
Many persons told me they are surprised of the bridge under construction located in front of Aklan State University, Ibajay, Aklan. It is parallel to the old bridge that connects Colong-Colong to Poblacion, Ibajay.
According to a prominent person in Numancia, that bridge under construction in Ibajay was never been discussed in public as a priority. He was so disappointed that the construction was made ahead of the Numancia – Kalibo bridge which might collapse anytime from now. If this happened, Aklanons from the western part will be secluded, tourists will go to Boracay via the Caticlan Airport and the Republic Nautical Highway.
HAKOG, SUEOK, MAAKOP, HANGOE
Hakog, Sueok, Maakop and Hangoe are Aklanon terms which mean one thing "greedy". A reader, an acquaintance, as a reaction to my previous column which discussed "hakog, sueok, maakop and hangoe" suggested that we vote only those candidates who are charitable; forget about the greedy on May 14.
Of course, the 3 C’s must be highly considered. These are conscience, competence and commitment among others. You can add more desirable qualities of the men/women you will vote for their respective positions.
WATER IN THE RIVER
"More sunshine more grains." This is absolutely true in rice crop. And this principle is proven in Spain which has the highest rice production in the world per unit area.
Spain is the hottest part of the world which produces rice in effectively irrigated rice paddy. Aklan can be the highest rice producing province of the Philippines. Rice is a hydrophonic plant which demands more water during its growth during the summer season with more sunshine.
However, Aklan has more sunshine that renders rice paddies cracking and rice crops drying today. Meanwhile, millions gallons of water continuously flow to the Sibuyan sea from the Aklan river. If this water can only be diverted to the Aklan rice fields, Aklan will have more surplus palay. /MP