CHIMERIC CONVERSATION
CHIMERIC CONVERSATION

Farmer tells BBM to digitalize agriculture

Sep 29, 2022, 12:05 AM
Sonny Domingo

Sonny Domingo

Columnist

PBBM: Good morning Ka Sonny. Am now in New York and just delivered my speech to the Filipino community which represents nearly half of the 10 million Filipinos abroad.

KA SONNY: Yes Mr. President the gist of which is the need for unity and to bring back the Bayanihan spirit. It was however long in rhetoric but short in Policies and Programs to bring back our economy and our OFW's to their families.

PBBM: Oww! Come on Ka Sonny. You are now getting to be my critic.

KA SONNY: No Mr. President I am just doing a critique or a dialectic on your speech. You could have said "as we grow our economy especially in the field of agriculture, we will now do a paradigm shift to digital farming. This means those of you who are savvy in technology can come home and engage in agriculture without breaking your back in transplanting and spraying because the drones will do it for you. We will then double our product and will produce so much agri-wastes (50 percent for every ton of palay harvested that we can now reduce our energy cost to just 1/3 so the government can now build, operate and transfer (BOT) businesses to employ yourself and 399 others that will be incorporated to become co-owners to process surplus rice into sotanghon for export to China and all China towns in the world. We will then be doing business with EuroAsia where practically half of the world population lives and eat every ton of produce that we can feed for a hungry world. Invest now your surplus earnings in agriventures with the idle lands of your families instead of spending on non- essentials and condominiums so you will have a small business to come home to and enjoy with your family even in retirement. Etcetera, etc."

PBBM: Oh. That is a mouthful Ka Sonny but I like to know more of your etc, etc.

KA SONNY: Of course Mr President but get speech writers and those writing for your Cabinet "Ministers" that know how to empathize with your prospective audiences wherever you go. (Or maybe get more exposure yourself with the different sectors in Philippine society starting with our smallholder farmers and IP's. So, you can be more educated in what kind of speech you would like them to write for you). I am not saying you are stupid. You just need to know. I am sure 2/3 of your audience have savings and would have wanted to come back to the Philippines with your assurance of a "fair trade environment" (FTE).

PBBM: Again, you are being cryptic Ka Sonny. Now you are getting not only to be my critic but also cryptic. Now 'haw haw the carabao?' Aber!! What do you mean by FTE?

KA SONNY: I will answer you with a question. Why do you think local politicians fight "tooth and nail" to stay as mayors or even as barangay chairman?

PBBM. Yes, I was wondering about that.

KA SONNY: Business Monopoly.

PBMM. But that's too far away from their claim of wanting to be mayors to be of service to their community.

KA SONNY: Simple Mr. President. If an OFW applies for a business permit and the idea of the business looks lucrative to the mayor he will never give the business permit even if the OFW has connections in high offices of government. A few weeks later the mayor puts up the same business as the OFW applied for, this time owned by the mayor’s family or even second family. The same is true in the barangay level . That Mr. President is F.T.E.

PBBM. So that makes them more powerful and negates the development of their community? Then what must I do to remove that power from them.

KA SONNY: Remove their power of issuing business permits. As to how? Again " Read My Lips, Mr. President.


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