By Mortz C. Ortigoza
No, I’m not going to expound on the cheap succulent fruits
of The First Minda Fruit Festival in
Baguio City brought yesterday and today by Secretary Manny Piñol who is
also the chief of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).
I’m going to cite here the good economic sense he brought to
MinDA when he assumed office last August 20 after President Rodrigo Duterte
appointed him as his point man not only of MinDA but with the nascent Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(BARMM).
Before I delve on that hundreds of billions of pesos’
ambitious projects Piñol’s refuted at his Davao City’s speech, I was then awed
in March 2018 about the proposals of then MinDA Chairman Datu Abul Khayr Alonto
in Zamboanga City for the creations of these linchpin projects that could leapfrogged Mindanao from its debilitating penury.
FRUITS - Mindanao Development Authority Chairman and
Secretary Manny Piñol (second from left) gives a free taste to a resident of
Baguio City of the succulent marang fruit in the First Minda Fruit Festival in Baguio City held yesterday and
today at the Pines City. With Piñol at the Burnham Park is the city’s mayor Benjamin
Magalong (extreme left).
Alonto, who died by the way in May 9, 2019, explained how much the budget needed “to catch up with the Dutertenomics target of boosting the island-region’s economy”.
In the PhP 3.757 trillion national budget for 2019, Mindanao
was appropriated by PhP 585.851 billion or 4.7% lower than the 2018 share of
PhP 615 billion.
Included in the proposed budget of Alonto were monumental projects
that MinDA marked as priority programs which include the following:
- Mindanao-wide
land transport connectivity
- Mindanao
gateways
- Trans-Mindanao
high-speed railway system
The three projects comprise the Mindanao Development
Corridors, which also includes the Bangsamoro Development Corridor.
Also included in the proposal were the following “catalytic”
projects for Mindanao:
- Tawi-Tawi
Freeport and Economic Zone
- Picong
(Lanao del Sur) Freeport, Airport and Industrial Estate
- Next
segments of the Trans-Mindanao HighSpeed Railway Project
- Establishment
of Agri-Economic Cooperative Zones in the Bangsamoro area
Here comes Piñol in his August 20 speech held at the
office of MinDA in the Old Airport at Sasa, Davao City. Excerpt:
“The plans and
programs are admirable with grand projects and ambitious targets. The Mindanao Railway
Project, the Tawi-tawi Free Port, the implementation of the Trading Program
among our partners in the BIMP-EAGA and the operationalisation of the Barter
Trade are among the major programs lined up for implementation.
The questions which
beg for answers are: Where are we now? How far have we gone in implementing
these grandiose plans? What keeps us from realising these dreams?
Taking a closer look
at the much-ballyhooed Davao-Bitung Trading to be served by a vessel capable of
carrying cargoes back and forth which I understand is operating intermittently
now, I realised what was absent in all of these grand plans.
We tried to build a
huge dream on very weak foundations.
Before the launching
of the Davao-Bitung Shipping Route attended by no less than President Duterte
and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia two years ago, I do not believe that
there was a careful study on the sustainability of the project. I suspect that
there was simply no in-depth evaluation on whether there were sufficient products
to be traded.
Taking the
Davao-Bitung Shipping Route fiasco as an example of a poorly planned program, I
now ask: If we build the Mindanao Railways, what goods would be transported to
where?
Or, if we build the
Tawi-tawi Free Port what do we offer our neighbours in the form of
counter-trade; Or what goods do we barter in the Barter Trade Centre?
With these questions,
I believe we should now realise that we can dream big but these dreams must be
anchored on strong foundations”.
Despite the grand Mindanao Railway project coming, Pinol
cautioned its inevitability:
“(Ang) Mindanao Railway project ay
mag-uumpisa na. But I issued a fair warning. Magandang pangarap,
pero meron ba tayong ikaka-cascade. Do we have the goods? (The railway project
will push through but I issued a fair warning: It is a beautiful dream but do
we have the goods to cascade?)” he said as quoted by the Philippine News Agency.
The PHP82.9 billion modern dual track, electricity-run project will cover 1,550 kilometers of the first phase of the Mindanao Railway, which would have eight stations: Tagum; Carmen; Panabo; Mudiang in Bunawan, Davao City; Davao Terminal; Toril; Sta. Cruz; and Digos City.
Since I’ve been writing political and economic column (my
favorite is the amendment of the Public Service Acts to open our xenophobic economy
to foreign investors) for countless of years already, Secretary Piñol was
one of the very few Filipinos, susmariosep,
who exposed courageously that the Emperor wears no clothes.
The emperors here were probably Alonto, members of the Regional Development Council, National Economic Development Authority, Departments of Public Works & Highways, Transportation & Communication, or others.
The emperors here were probably Alonto, members of the Regional Development Council, National Economic Development Authority, Departments of Public Works & Highways, Transportation & Communication, or others.
Of course, the hundreds of billions of pesos that will go
with the construction of Mindanao Railway Project, the Tawi-tawi Free Port, the
implementation of the Trading Program are patent boondoggle at the expense of
the Filipino taxpayers.
Those who crafted these
profligacies should be put in a firing squad.
Piñol was right, why not first build the production of
goods and other counter trades through farm-to-market-roads, spike the
agricultural production there, more fish cages, livestock and dairy, solar
power irrigation and fertilizer loaning so that people there have products to
reciprocate with their clients and our country’s neighbors who trade with us,
too.
Now, that’s what we call good economic sense!
READ MY OTHER ARTICLE:
READ MY OTHER ARTICLE:
Who is Stupid Between Me and This Ex-Solon, Radioman?
(You can
read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at
Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
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