This
may not ring a bell to the 3G, Broadband and Smart Bro generation but in the 70s,
the Marcos government extended agricultural loans under the so-called "Masagana
99" program which was initiated in the early 1970s to encourage adoption
of high-yielding rice varieties.
Private
rural banks offered no-collateral, low-interest loans to small farmers, with the
government guaranteeing 85 percent of any losses suffered by the banks. The program
was a flop but Marcos minions managed a very good scheme for damage control even
if the government lost P5.5 billions due to unpaid loans.
Don't
look now, but the government, through the Agricultural Credit Police Counsel (ACPC),
is reportedly tapping ten rural banks and one cooperative to collect some P1.1
billion in loans acquired by farmers from the Department of Agriculture since
the 1970s.
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Here's
another development which did not get much attention in the local media. The new
owners of the 1.2 megawatt-Loboc hydropower facility will double the capacity
of the plant.
Reports
said the new plant owner, Sta. Clara International, is eyeing the construction
of two additional generators, one with a capacity of 1.2 MW and another with 0.5
MW, to take advantage of the abundant water supply in Loboc town.
The
Loboc plant maybe relatively small and in operation since 1957, its high capacity
factor and the abundant water supply in the area expansion possible. Since the
sale of the Loboc hydro-plant to Sta. Clara, the plant capacity factor had gone
up to 90 percent from 77 percent, resulting in electricity production of 9.5 million
kilowatt-hours (kWh) from 8 million kWh, the report added.
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But
this one certainly gets much media attention as we attended the formal opening
of the First Heritage Summer Camp dubbed as Bibo-Bohol in Sitio Ubos this city
last Thursday noon representing City Mayor Dan Neri Lim. Vice Mayor Nuevas Montes
was originally tasked to deliver the "three to five-minute" welcome
address but she declined due to an out-of-town engagement.
Bea
Zobel de Ayala Jr. and Cesar Montano were there but they were all over-shadowed
by Gov. Erico B. Aumentado who marked his 66th natal day last Thursday through
the so-called People's Day at the Bohol Cultural Center.
The
eco-cultural and heritage youth camp held at Camp Magsaysay, Rajah Sikatuna Protected
Landscape in Bilar town will wrap up today.
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We
cannot even appreciate how the competing media giants, ABS-CBN and GMA 7 are giving
much attention to their mountain-climbing teams over the past days..
The
media-hype over the Mother's Day celebration and the commercialism that went along
with it even rocked several houses, ours included as we were in Davao City last
Sunday. Sans the commercial value of marking Mother's Day, everyday is considered
a day for mothers for we cannot be in this world without our mothers. Aren't we?
Well,
that candidate for a municipal beauty contest somewhere in Bohol aptly put it
when she was asked in the final round of the competiton: "How will you save
Mother Earth". Her answer was brief and concise: "First, I will save
my Mother, then I will save the Earth!" Amen.
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