When I looked up current news coverage about the island of Leyte, I was surprised to learn that the province of Leyte is not insurgency-free. There are still so-called pockets where a small number of insurgents are located in upland areas. This got me thinking.
In late 2024, I was in Palali, MacArthur, Leyte, at the request of our Publisher, Ray Junia, to check on land being sold in the area. I thought it was just a few minutes from the national highway. I was surprised it took us nearly 45 minutes to go to the land being offered for sale.
The road to the upper levels, near or at the base of the mountain, was concrete but was in the interior. I was guided by a relative of the owner, who lived in the poblacion of MacArthur. There I met the tenant and his family. The area was planted with coconuts all the way up. I had an hour with the tenant. We talked about a lot of things, but what stood out as relevant to this column is that the tenant wanted a large share of the selling price. The land was barely cultivated, aside from coconut trees.
The gentleman said he has been there for many years. The owner who was selling the land did not go with me. And further up the road, I noticed a military camp with a signboard indicating that a company of soldiers was camped there.
This was a situation that revealed a deep-seated economic problem in the province of Leyte: low agricultural productivity and production, and consequently low incomes. The infrastructure did not increase income or solve the problem of poverty. If the government does not support agricultural production, everyone in that barangay will remain poor.
I was informed that the government set up a vegetable farm in the upland areas. I did not go there anymore. I did not consider the place safe. In fact, given the presence of an army unit in the area, I can assume that the agrarian problem persists in this Leyte town. And the landlord-tenant relationship remains. Development will not be ensured because of the friction that turns investors away.
The focus on building roads should now give way to increasing productivity on the land. This will require a massive and intensive effort from the National, Provincial, and Municipal governments.
The statistics I mentioned in the last issue, such as the 21.7 percent poverty incidence, are a telling sign that things are not going the way they should. Those poverty statistics show that one in every five Leytenos is suffering from poverty or the inability to afford the basic necessities in life. Beyond eating three square meals a day, there is nothing more they can afford.
This also shows why we have a high percentage of 4Ps beneficiaries, something that makes many people proud, but it also means the government has been unable to lift many families from the clutches of poverty. We should not crow about the billions spent, but about the lost chances for improving their lives because these families are mired in poverty, probably for the rest of their lives.
I dare say those in government should answer this plea to find a more effective way of governing so that the number of families getting out of poverty outweighs those getting in. The current situation betrays an excruciatingly slow pace that is leaving the province much behind other similarly endowed provinces of the country.
It's sad but true.
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