How did the Marcos Jr. administration combat the greatest threat to food security? | ABS-CBN

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How did the Marcos Jr. administration combat the greatest threat to food security?

How did the Marcos Jr. administration combat the greatest threat to food security?

Raphael Bosano,

ABS-CBN News

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MANILA — As record-heat seared many parts of the country, Dan Alfaro, a rice and onion farmer in the town of Bongabon, Nueva Ecija could not help but feel a deep sense of loss. 

The dry season and even El Niño is not anything new to the Philippines. In fact, he and many other farmers already know how to adapt to climate extremes.

But this year, Alfaro says, is different. None of the crops he planted in smaller amounts made it through the drought. 

“Sabi ko magtatanim na lang ako ng kaunting gulay, pang agdong-agdong sa buhay namin para sa ganon meron kaming panggastos. Hindi na kami ika nga maghahanap ng mauutangan. Pero yung kaunting tinanim ko kinain lang din po ng uod,” he said. 

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(I told myself I will just plant some vegetables just to make a small amount and get us by so that we won’t have to borrow money. But everything I planted just got infested by worms.)

While others may see farming as highly lucrative, he sees it as a gamble. This time, he’s at the losing end. 

Alfaro is one of the more than 180,000 Filipinos in the agriculture sector greatly affected by the recent El Niño phenomenon. It is this sector that is greatly affected when nature unleashes its wrath, with threats to food security being more pronounced. 

Data from the Department of Agriculture, as of June 30, revealed that agricultural damage from the strong El Niño has reached almost P10 billion and affected over 170,000 hectares of land throughout the country. 

While government agencies assured the public that water supply, especially in Metro Manila would remain normal, Alfaro says their situation in the province was different. The absence of normal rainfall was evident and wiped out their farms. 

As he walked over to crates filled with white onions, he lifted several nets and pointed to the growing shoots — an indication that the onions were no longer newly harvested and can no longer be sold.

“People will just ask for these. They don’t want to buy old onions.”

Government Aid

To help farmers and fisherfolk cope with the ongoing effects of the climate phenomenon, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. launched in May the Presidential Assistance to Farmers, Fisherfolk and their Families (PAFFF) which aimed to give cash grants worth P10,000. 

“Sinasabi ng pangulo sa kaniyang mga talumpati na alam niya na maliit ang P10,000 per beneficiary para manumbalik ang kabuhayan ng magsasaka. Pero the president hopes it will help jumpstart yung recover ng magsasaka at mangingisda para maipagpatuloy yung kanilang kabuhayan,” said Presidential Communications Office Assistant Secretary Joey Villarama. 

(The president has said in his speeches that he knows P10,000 per beneficiary is a small amount. But he hopes it will help jumpstart the recovery of farmers and fisherfolk so that they can eventually continue their livelihood.)

As of early July, Villarama says the PAFFF has already given out obver P1.6 billion to beneficiaries throughout the country’s different provinces. 

As Marcos made the rounds in different parts of the country in the days leading up to the State of the Nation Address, he brought with him the Department of Social Welfare and Development the Department of Agriculture and other offices to provide additional assistance. 

This approach — whole of government — Villarama says, is what the current administration strives to achieve to ensure that the needs of Filipinos in all aspects (including family and livelihood) are addressed. 

Throughout the period of El Niño, no less than 400 cities and municipalities, 12 provinces and one region declared a state of calamity. 

With the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) now considered netural, or the period where there is neither an El Niño or La Niña, questions arise whether what the country just went through is already the worst it can experience. 

For an expert on weather and climate, the answer is a serious no. 

The worst has yet to be felt?

Following 12 straight months of record heat, the earth will most likely see stronger climate phenomena and typhoons. 

Dr. John Manalo from state weather bureau PAGASA’s Climatology and Agro-meteorology Division explains drought and extreme heat are not the only threats that can be blamed on climate change.

“Kasama sa climate change yung global warming, yung changes sa temperature. Sakop din ng climate change yung pagbabago sa rainfall patterns, sa mga pag-ulan, pagbabago sa tropical cyclone activity pati na yung lakas at dalas ng mga bagyo,” he said. 

(Global warming is just one of the results of climate change. This also includes changes in rainfall patterns, tropical cyclone activities and their strength and frequency.)

Manalo adds as climate change progresses, the intensity of heat and cyclones can be expected stressing that one of the main ingredients of a perfect storm is hot air. 

“Ineexpect talaga natin na mas mataas na mas tataas ang temperatures na mae-experience natin. That would induce effects hindi lang sa agriculture sector but also on human health, water resources and other aspects.”

Just over a month following the end of El Niño, PAGASA has raised a La Niña alert suggesting a 70% possibility of it developing between August to October and may persist until the first quarter of 2025. Unlike El Niño, this climate phenomenon is caused by the cooling of the sea surface temperature across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific and is characterized by excessive, sometimes even catastrophic, rainfall. 

The agriculture sector has barely recovered from El Niño, yet the looming La Niña is something they are already bracing for. 

Preparing for La Niña

Villarama says more than immediate, bandaid solutions, the Marcos administration aims to develop long-term, integrated and holistic solutions to cushion the public from its impacts of extreme weather events.

“Ang instruction niya is to come up with more water impounding systems para masalo yung tubig na posibleng idulot ng La Niña. Dapat nagusap-usap ang mga ahensiya para ang mga proyekto ay integrated at yung resulta ay kapakipakinabang.”

(The president’s instruction is to come up with more water impounding systems to catch rain water dumped by La Niña. He also requires agencies to coordinate with one another so that projects are integrated and the end result would really be useful.) 

Among the long-term solutions is the development of infrastructure like the Wawa Bulk Water Supply Project. With a total cost of P26.5 billion, through a public-private partnership, the dam Upper Wawa Dam is said to increase water supply in Metro Manila and nearby areas.  

But Marcos stressed that the conservation of water, a resource that the public has come to treat as very precious in the last couple of months, is a shared responsibility.

“We need to build more multi-purpose dams to ensure water supply not only for drinking but also for irrigation, power generation, flood control, aquaculture, and hopefully other technologies that we may engage in the future,” Marcos said during the impounding ceremony last July 10.

For Rodne Galicha, national convenor of Aksyon Klima Pilipinas, it remains vital for government to remain engaged with civil society groups who push for the public’s welfare especially in terms of the climate crisis.

While many more are becoming aware of the reality of climate change, Galichia says it may be time to talk about the climate crises in the guise of pamphlets or information, education and campaign materials.  

“We know that one of the biggest problems now, ecological problems, is climate crisis. And we need to prepare all these young people to understand what the problem is all about. And through them, sila din ang magpaplano para sa sarili lang, guided by the teachers and of course by science,” he said.

“So we need to start from that  and we hope that climate change education will become a subject in especially elementary.And that can also be a special course or even a full course in college.”

Putting food on the table…no matter what

As Alfaro walks along the lush green fields in Bongabon, he manages to smile. But it only stays for a few seconds before his expression returns stoic.

Asked what was on his mind, he says it was the uncertainty of the La Niña that bothered him and the future of the farmers that will come after him in a world degraded by greenhouse has emissions and climate change.

“Mapupulbos tayo dito sa Pilipinas. Kasi mga mauunlad na bansa po yan eh kaya wala tayong magawa. Pero pagka dumating na po yung mga bagyo dito sa atin, eh ako po naranasan ko nang sabihin sa bagyo na tumigil na at baka mamaya eh wala nang matira sa aming bayan eh.” 

(We will be reduced to dust here in the Philippines. It’s richer nations that continue to emit greenhouse gas. We can’t do anything. But when typhoons batter the country…I already experienced pleading for the typhoon to stop because I fear that nothing will be left of my town.) 

Despite many uncertainties, Alfaro says he will continue farming.

“Pag tinalikuran po natin ang pagsasaka, wala na pong magpapakain sa sambayanang Pilipino. Wala na po. Aasa na lang tayo doon sa mga imported na manggagaling sa iba’t ibang panig ng mundo na hindi naman po natin kayang pigilin yung presyo,” Alfaro said.

(If farmers turn their back on farming, no one will feed the nation. No one. We will just be dependent on imported good where we have no control over their cost.) 

As the Marcos administration enters its 4th year, farmers like Alfaro now depend on government to push for the welfare not only of the agriculture sector but the entire nation in very important discussions about climate change, extreme weather and their inevitable impacts.


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Casio back as PAOCC spox, underwent 'anger management' after viral slapping incident

Casio back as PAOCC spox, underwent 'anger management' after viral slapping incident

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

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Dr. Winston John Casio (left), Senior Technical Adviser of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, attends a Senate hearing on June 26, 2024. Senate PRIB


MANILA — The spokesman of Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Wednesday said he underwent anger management sessions and has been taking medication after he was suspended for slapping a man during an operation last year.

Winston Casio was suspended from his post in late 2024 after he was seen in a video slapping a man during an illegal gambling operation in Bataan.

“I underwent anger management. To be honest kasi dati na ako talaga mainitin ang ulo… Noon pa sinasabi na ng mga empleyado ko talaga na mainitin talaga ang ulo ko,” he told Palace reporters in a chance interview.

“I am under medication also to control my temper,” he said.

Casio said the complainant withdrew the slander by deed charges filed against him after they reached an amicable settlement.

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“Walang civil damages, to be honest. The agreement was I had to apologize to him in public, in court, in open session… I apologized to the person, to the counsel, to the court… I also apologized to the wife kasi siyempre apektado din yung asawa,” he said.

“But I did not apologize for what precipitated me to do it kasi may report na talagang nagkabastusan,” he said.

“You can say many things about me but I am not a proud person. Kapag may mali ako, I will admit to it automatically. Hindi ko itatanggi yun,” he added.

Casio said he was eventually reinstated as director and spokesperson after he was “confined to the office” with tasks “limited to paper works.”


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