ELEKSYON 2022

Isko Moreno bares ‘Food Production Strategic Plan’ aimed at food security

Presidential aspirant Manila Mayor Isko Moreno on Saturday unveiled his “Food Production Strategic Plan” that, if he becomes president, would guide him in reinforcing the country’s food security efforts.

“We must, starting 2022, have a Food Production Strategic Plan, which will be the guide for the budget of all departments and other agencies directly involved in food production,” Moreno said in a San Pablo town hall meeting attended by Laguna coconut farmers and their families.

Among the departments covered by the plan were the Department of Agriculture, his proposed Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and other agencies related to food production and distribution.

“Kasi ngayon, kada isang taon, pabagu-bago ang suporta sa agrikultura. Kailangan may food production plan. Kailangan may direksyon ang pag-tosgas (gastos) ng pamahalaan. At ito ang paghuhugutan ng 5-year medium term spending bilang suporta sa food production,” Moreno explained.

(Presently, every year, the support given to agriculture swings back and forth. There has to be a food production plan. Government spending needs to have a goal. The  5-year medium-term spending in support of food production would be directed at this goal.)

The Aksyon Demokratiko presidential bet also said the 5-year plan must involve the different major stakeholders in food production so that their problems and solutions are properly taken into consideration in crafting the food production strategy.

Moreno said earlier that his food production program included a 3-year moratorium on the conversion of agricultural lands into other uses and the passage of the National Land Use Act (NLUA).

He explained that the proposed NLUA would create a national land-use authority that would draft and oversee a national land-use plan that would classify land according to use: protection (for conservation), production (for agriculture and fisheries), settlements development (for residential purposes), and infrastructure development (for transportation, communication, water resources, social infrastructure).

“I’m all for development, but not if it sacrifices our goal of food sufficiency. We must ensure that agricultural lands should stay as agricultural lands,” said Moreno.

Moreno said his Aksyon Demokratiko team hopes to continue their dialogs “with as many people as we can, in as many places as we can” so that they will learn the real situation of rural folks and come up with distinct solutions to the people’s problems.

Proposed cancer center

Meanwhile, Moreno's running mate Dr. Willie Ong, who was also in San Pablo, said that if they won the 2022 elections, they would prioritize the construction of a Cancer Center of the Philippines (CCP) to look after the needs of patients suffering from the deadly disease, especially those who are poor.

Ong explained that the cancer center would be provided with state-of-the-art equipment, such as linear accelerator, PET scan, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines.

“Mga P2.5 billion ang halaga ng makabagong cancer center para sa ating bayan. Magagawa po natin ‘yan. Nagawa ng ani Mayor Isko sa Maynila. Magandang mga aparato bibilin natin... Tapos lalagyan pa natin ng bahay doon, pabahay kung saan titira ‘yung mga cancer patients hanggang gumaling sila,” Ong said.

(The modern cancer center would cost P2.5 billion. Mayor Isko of Manila said we could do this. It will have the best equipment... And it will include a housing facility where cancer patients can stay during treatment.)

Ong also vowed to improve the condition of the 16 regional public hospitals around the country.

“‘Yung regional hospitals, lalagyan natin ng heart center sa loob, pang dialysis, pang baga, at pang kidney para hindi na sila pupunta lahat sa Metro Manila. ‘Yan lang ang magawa natin, makakaahon na tayo. Malaking tulong na po,” Ong explained.

(We would place heart, dialysis, pulmonary, and kidney centers in these regional hospitals so patients don't have to travel to Metro Manila. With this alone, we would be able to raise ourselves up. This would be a big help.)

Ong added that there was a need for government to improve the quality of service being provided by public hospitals, particularly in the provinces.

He argued that by providing regional public hospitals with better equipment and facilities more doctors would come to work in these hospitals. — DVM, GMA News