By: Cherie Mercado, InterAksyon.com
Published September 27, 2013 4:45 PM
After all, we were in his farm, on a foggy Wednesday morning with a soft drizzle, the cool breeze, fresh air, and the stunning view of Batangas mountains and coastal areas.
He talked passionately about his plants. His robusta and barako coffee plants that used to dominate the lands of Alfonso Cavite. He showed me peppercorns growing from the vines, he told me how banana trees have to be cut off once they bear fruit but they immediately grow another stalk in place of the mature one.
There's cacao, kaong, lettuce, basil, parsley, thyme, eggplants okra and maybe every vegetable in the song "Bahay Kubo".
He showed me how to make coco vinegar. He scooped up vermicompost with his bare hands, sifting the worms in the wet soil.
He lovingly fed his native chickens and proudly showed me his native pigs and their piglets.
He introduced me to their carabao Berky and showed me Miel's rabbit in one of the cages. He doesn't use any chemicals or pesticides in his farm. He tries to raise everything naturally and he sighs at the challenges of organic farming.
His farm is not fancy. It is two years old and basic. No fancy walkways or lounges. His chairs are mono blocks. There's a small house for the farm staff made of untreated hollow blocks and screen doors. The toilet is the type you'd find in provinces with a very low seat, without the back water tank as there is no flush. I find it very real and down to earth.
But at the same time, he's building a farmhouse which will have a stunning view of mountains and coastal areas. That might be a little more fancy as it will house his family which of course includes wife megastar Sharon Cuneta and their four kids.
When I bring back the topic of PDAF, he is forced to blink and consciously shift his mind to his not-so-distant past (he's been a senator for 12 years), politely answering all my questions regarding where his funds went and allegations on singling out the strong opposition contenders and saving administration allies like him from shame and prosecution.
“My conscience is clear. We did not abuse the PDAF. We allocated it as best we could in terms of making sure hindi aabusin up until today. We can still say categorically say that we did not abuse the PDAF.”
Although he was mentioned in a Commission on Audit report with some 11 million pesos worth of questionable transactions, he was not accused of channeling it through dubious non-government organizations.
The report questioned the acquisition of mostly barangay equipment like computers, laminating machines, DSLR cameras, DVDs, and digital monitors that were either missing or defective or lacked proper documentation and bidding.
It was supposed to have been requested by 17 barangays in Quezon City. It also includes a two million construction project also in Quezon City.
According to the ex-senator, he’s open to investigation.
They did an internal check and they found out that some barangay captains did not turn over said equipment to their successors or have not followed proper procedures upon receiving the funds.
He said that a barangay, as a government unit should be accountable for its own actions.
And since COA undertakes audits four years after, that could explain why some equipment have already been damaged or could not be found. He explains that most of his PDAF went to projects of Gawad Kalinga and some school building projects of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce whose classrooms are one-half of standard government costs.
He regrets what's happening with how much funds are being diverted away from intended beneficiaries.
He shared one thing Pnoy once said to them. "Dati ang politiko namomorsyento sa proyekto, ngayon ang proyekto na lang ang namomorsyento sa politico."
He also has much to say about the plight of our farmers.
"Society has looked down upon agriculture and farming as menial, dirty. Sa Thailand, sabi ng king, the backbone of the country is the farmers. Sa Chinam sa Confucian teaching, second in the hierarchy ang farmer. First is the teacher, the philosopher because they feed our minds, second ang farmer because yun ang nagpapakain sa atin. Dito anong turing natin sa farmer mangmang, hampas lupa, patay gutom, di dapat tularan. Sa rural areas sasabihin nila tutal anak mahina ka naman sa math, dito ka na lang sa bukid hayaan mo na mga kapatid mo mag aral. And that's why we're poor."
Having first hand experience of heavy rains wiping out his crops, he now has a more intimate knowledge of what farmers go through, with the latter having little or no support from the government. It's no wonder the huge agricultural potential of our country has gone to waste.
"Malaysia is a huge exporter of agricultural products worth $27 billion a year. Vietnam exports $7 billion worth of agricultural crops. The Philippines? We import. A net value of $1 billion a year.”
As we fed his potbellied pigs, he jokes that these are the only "pork" he deals with nowadays.
“But pigs are very intelligent animals. They're the 3rd most intelligent animal after the chimps and the dolphins. Wag natin silang babuyin."
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