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Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago
For a long time in Philippine development experience, cooperation in the development terrain was largely a market-state synergy. Only in the 1980s did the NGOs and peoples’ organizations or POs sprout in large numbers to leverage their strength and engage the state in the development game.
As a budding development professional and technocrat in the early 1980s, I encountered a context with few NGOs if ever in my area of operations (Cagayan Valley/Region II, Northern Philippines). It was Martial Law, independent NGOs/POs were regarded with suspicion as communist fronts (we have a Left insurgency here), and so it was tough looking for ‘civil society’ groups to co-partner with in the development game, most specially in development planning.
When the provincial development councils were mandated to be installed as planning & coordination platforms, I had the luck of sitting in some of them as convenor and top advisor. But alas! There were not much ‘independent’ NGOs/POs to invite as participants, save for ‘agrarian reform’ and peasant groups that were constituted by barangay officials and mayors that were not, in fact, ‘independent’ or ‘autonomous’.
Good enough for the market players, as chambers of commerce already abound then across the archipelago. So during my watch as convenor, I immediately invited the local chambers to sit along with us state officlals who came from both local and national government agencies.
So that was the arrangement I had than at the provincial council. And the experience was fulfilling so far. The market players were participative, they actively presented ideas regarding process and priority programs and projects for the province. It was not difficult engaging them, as I recall well.
Another strategy that was employed by my broader them then, led by our regional director, was to form a club of government and business executives in the region. We called it the ‘Valley Kilusan Executive Greenhouse Club’ or Valley KEG Club. In the first semester of 1983 I was luckily appointed the manager of the clubhouse (located in Ilagan, Isabela), which I executed on top of my other regular tasks.
The response to the invitation for club membership was simply very enthusiastic. During my incumbency as manager, there were over 100 members which included traders, provincial governors, regional directors & provincial heads of line agencies, and cottage industry owners.
Our sub-regional office in Ilagan (Isabela) housed the clubhouse that was specially designed and constructed for the purpose of R & R of executives in the region. We had a restaurant and some function rooms, including a games room that was under construction (it was done when I left the ministry for graduate school later).
Every now and then we invited entertainers from Manila, who were contracted to perform for about a week or so. One entertainer decided to stay for good, as he found the business opportunities in the valley so great for exploration and immersion. The restaurant alone, which was packed with exec audiences at times, was already a good venue to build goodwill and good faith among development partners.
At daytime, some business and government officials would come to take lunch, hold meetings there, or simply chat and exchange pleasantries. The warlord governor then (now deceased) of Isabela, who also chaired the Regional Development Council, would come occasionally to meet people and exchange pleasantries.
Both the formal and informal platforms for concurring synergy are effective, as far as my experience had shown. Explore all possibilities for dialogue, this is the thumb rule. If one may not work fairly well, then explore the other strategy. Should both of them work well, then indeed this would brighten your day, and this is possible.
[Writ 29 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Erle Frayne Argonza
We surely have housing backlogs on a perennial basis in the country. The backlog had never been sufficiently filled up amid the media hypes of stakeholders regarding this developmental problem. Even when civil society joined the housing arena together with the state and market, huge backlogs by the millions of houses remain.
I had the opportunity of working for the Ministry of Human Settlements in the early 1980s as a young junior executive. The posts I occupied (deputy provincial manager, acting provincial manager, …) allowed me to oversee state programs in development, notably community development, enterprise development and housing.
The institution of a line ministry as a strategy to meet the housing backlog, fast-track the construction and delivery of livable houses did work to achieve desired ends up to a certain extent. As far as my office was concerned then, our mandate was to plan and execute new projects under the shelter program (I directed the start-up planning for the house-on-stilts for new Cagayan subdivisions then, and had them approved for implementation), and monitor the ‘rural BLISS’ sites (BLISS = Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services).
The rural BLISS sites were largely located in small towns and catered mainly to government employees. They were already constructed and occupied when I arrived as a community development assistant in 1981. A team in our regional liaison office monitored the sites by interfacing with the homeowners’ associations called the BLCA (BLISS Community Associations).
When our ministry was re-organized and expanded in mid-1981, management of the sites went to the Estates Management Office of the Regional Office (called Area Coordinating Center or ACC). My office (called Provincial Action Center or PAC) interfaced with the Estates Management group, got reports from them, and thanks heavens this relieved me of some heavy tasks regarding the matter.
Effecting recoverability was quite a tough one then, to recall. All of the sites’ homeowners somehow paid their mortgages on time, though some got delayed in remitting theirs’, save for one: the Tuao site. Tuao was headed by a warlord Mayor (Leonard Mamba), but who, being a fellow alumnus at the University of the Philippines, was very cooperative and cordial with me.
Having no problem in relating to the local exec, I can now deal directly with the Tuao BLISS homeowners. They simply refused to pay their bills (mortgage)! What terrible homeowners these ones were, one may rightly surmise. Because, as one can see, they were the only ones who refused to pay mortgage. Terrible! How should you deal with the matter, if you were tasked to do oversight job on it?
It wasn’t my office’s job to instill collection rules, but the matter was brought to my attention by the shelter staff of the regional office. They begged me to put my feet forward a bit, dip my hands in the fiasco, and negotiate with the homeowners. The residents could have gone to the mayor to stake out their stubborn attitude, but they realized I was ‘chika-chika’ (cordially related) to the mayor there (who was a brilliant lawyer in Manila before becoming the warlord mayor).
I immediately drew the tactics in my mind. It was still best to talk to them, this was Plan A. But if talks would fail, if carrots won’t work, then I will have to use sticks on the stubborn residents. The stick was to request the provincial commander of the Philippine Constabulary (who was my ‘chika-chika’ and distant cousin), and use the troops to drive out the residents. I was tough about doing Plan B.
But I was resolved in exhausting Plan A. For two (2) days I visualized myself like some Napoleon Bonaparte talking to his men and inspiring them with words. Inspire the homeowners with words, this was the tactic. Move them to tears, remind them that it would be better to have a home and pay for them, rather than live in the streets homeless. Move them with words, simple!
My own exposure to the theatre as a college student did pay off in this task. I had to role play for many hours, said my lines to my agency team, and then delivered my lines before the residents. It worked! There was standing ovation and loud applause after the talk. I can never ever forget the engagement, I myself was nearly brought to tears. The following week they began to settle their arrears and began to pay their dues.
Well, the occasion proved that good communications should be exhausted, and eloquence pays off much. Practice eloquence, maximize personal touch on clientele, and you can move mountains. That will brighten your day, as development is all about moving mountains anyway. It can be done.
[Writ 29 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
By The Pakistani Spectator • Jun 25th, 2008 • Category: Interviews • (2,809 views) • No Responses
Would you please tell us something about you and your site?
Erle: The erleargonza.blogspot.com’s my main site. About relations, wisdom, cosmic awareness, self-development. …I am a sociologist, economist, consultant, yogi, mystic, guru of self-realization, artist, powerlifter. Age 49.
Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?
Erle: Yes. I’m learning to write blog-style. I used to write technical-academic-scientific. I’m learning.
I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?
Erle: I’m new as a blogger. The most memorable now is the commentary, both positive and antipathetic. I like feedbacks a lot. Among all feedbacks, those from spiritual seekers who seek a guru are the most memorable.
What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?
Erle: Open the blogs everyday. Begin at 7 a.m. Continue on time availability. Till 9:30 pm I work.
What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?
Erle: Blogs, cellphones are the coolest. Blogs for internet-based.
Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?
Erle: Very much. Tried & tested even here in Manila.
What do you think sets Your site apart from others?
Erle: I’m a guru and yogi, I can intuit on higher knowledge not knowable to the ordinary, not even to geniuses. Such as the opening of the stargate portal to other star systems, I saw this in my vision.
If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?
Erle: Big dreamer, far-sighted dreamer.
What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?
Erle: Happiest: release of my 1st book. …Gloomiest? None really, simply sad but not ‘gloomiest’.
Do you think [the use of Twitter and other social networking tools by politicians] is bandwagon jumping or what?
Erle: Of course. But do they have any better choice?
If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?
Erle: Egypt–Great Pyramid; Glastonbury in England; Maui in Hawaii
What is your favorite book and why?
Erle: Secret Doctrine by Blavatsky. It’s the most advanced lesson in wisdom, mysticism for me.
What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?
Erle: Level of intelligence, by looking at their forehead, head configuration, sensing their aura.
Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?
Erle: No, never.
How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?
Erle: I can’t say much. My blogging is for serving spiritual seekers, hobby, not for money (I’m studying this now).
Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?
Erle: Not exactly. Even very busy professionals became successful bloggers which is just their hobby.
What are your thoughts on corporate blogs and what do you think the biggest advantages and disadvantages are?
Erle: It’s their choice, not mine to make judgement about. It’s cool, it can reach out to many, can’t say of disadvantages.
What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world more friendlier and less hostile?
Erle: Very much. Blogging is new. But it’s beginning to become the ’salon’ or ‘coffee shop’ of the future where ideas get to shape the world out there.
Who are your top five favourite bloggers?
Erle: I hardly have time to read others’ blogs really, can’t comment.
Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?
Erle: Catchy title, non-technical but short.
What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?
Erle: A great people! Nothing can erase that. Pakistan was once part of the seat of Mogul (I was a majarajah there during Akbar’s time, what can I say…)
Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?
Erle: Not really. Being a sociologist, I expect uniqueness.
What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a developing country?
Erle: Developed: the most strategic industries are in the high-tech industrial sectors. Developing, still mired in low-tech industries such as furniture, garments & textiles, and very big agricultural sector (past 50% of GDP).
What is the future of blogging?
Erle: Very very big! It is the salon of the future! It is where geniuses of the world meet, also the mystics and superhumans of the world. Very big!
You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?
I got connected to new contacts, professional friends. Some of them already arranged face-to-face negotiations with me in Manila, inviting me to projects. It began when they read me, and i read their interests.
What are your future plans?
Erle: Become a master of wisdom, travel to other nations as a guru-master. Continue using blogs and open a formal URL.
Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?
Work out to strengthen your nation, unite, bond amid ethnic differences. Don’t succumb to the whims of the global oligarchs who want to fragment Pakistan and then control the mini-states later. You are a great people, believe in your historical grandeur and collective strenth. Allah hu Akbar!
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
[Writ 07 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Writer was former Livelihood Coordinator of the Ministry of Human Settlements, PAC Gonzaga, from July 1981-June 1982. In Jan. 82 he was designated Acting Deputy Provincial Manager, concurrent with the livelihood post.]
Let me go through with my continuing journey as a young development professional, and transport you this time to the town of coastal town of Ballesteros in Cagayan. This town is famous for its crustaceans, notably crabs and lobsters. Let me stress here that the crabs and lobsters were huge by size compared to the ordinary, making them worth writing.
In the last quarter of 1982 my agency then, the MHS, finally recruited, trained and deployed Municipal Staff Assistants or MSAs. It was a great relief to acquire the “new kids on the block”, as it lifted so many burdens from us provincial staff, both technical and communicative (information dissemination of the KKK). From Ballesteros came this lanky young male staff (name now escapes my memory), with long ‘babalo’ chin. He was a no mean staff, to recall.
Mr. Bubbles (that’s how I jokingly call ‘babalo’ long chin folks) brought to my attention right away the huge potentiality of expanding crustacean production in his town. Unfazed by his rather dynamic explanation, who was almost gyrating like Elvis Presley during his presentation, I arranged for some consultations with fish farmers there (crustacean producers who operated onshore) as well as municipal fishers (who operated offshore). I simply wished to verify what my staff had reported to me then.
I found out that my staff did presented information in as truthful a manner as possible, verifying every millimeter of his report to the dot. I then arranged a visitation to the coastal area to see for myself what things were in there. To my own shock (I do get this feeling in the field at times), I realized that their ‘gears’ for fish farming was appallingly primitive (hmmm this is what I got for being an acculturated Big City boy in Manila: culture shock at local life). They used guava twigs that were planted below the sea level, after which the fish farmers would pick them up, with the ‘victims’ riding on the twigs.
As usual, my team’s task was to conceptualize what innovation to introduce there. That’s why our job is called ‘development’. To recoup from my initial shock (I really had to criticize myself silently), I quickly arranged for consultations with the technical staff of the BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources) who became our constant partners in the area (they were so elated at our arrival there), as well as the professors of the Cagayan State University (CSU) –Gonzaga branch (agriculture & fisheries campus). From the consultations and research of my staff, we pieced up information about the techno-component that would be simple to operate and utilize local resources for inputs.
Since we already had municipal fishing with bagoong making in Gonzaga, my team, with the nod of our BFAR partners, decided to focus crustacean fish farming in Ballesteros. So we had this double task of convincing the municipal fishers in the town to sideline as fish farmers if they wish to benefit from the KKK enterprise finance program there.
Our simple innovation introduced to them was the ‘fish cage’, or ‘crustacean trap’. It was made of wooden and tree branches, with grill-fashioned openings to let the smaller crabs & lobsters get in, where they’d stay and feed. As soon as they grew in size, it was difficult for them to go out if at all (experiments have shown they don’t go out as they acclimatize to the domicile). Simple indeed, but so sensible as it increased the yield of the marine farmers.
We also had to convince the fish farmers to apply as individual proponents. The parameters in the area were different from that of neighbor Gonzaga where offshore fishing was the primary engagement. It was more fruitful if each individual would work on his ‘crustacean yard’ (by the sea), though collectively they would have to secure the area together (there are always thieves everywhere, remember).
Project approval was fast for this one. I don’t recall now the exact figures per project. But my recall is sharp regarding the approval, financing, re-training of fish farmers, take-off, and the most important: taste of the final result. The lobsters and crabs using the traps were even larger than the previous pre-trap days! I’m sure you’d agree with me that these crustaceans warm up the heart and brighten your day when you see, feel and taste them.
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
Two towns away to the east of Appari, Cagayan is the town of Gonzaga. Like its neighboring towns of Sta Ana (to its east) and Ballesteros (to its west), and those other coastal towns north of Cagayan, Gonzaga is home to fishery engagements. These are largely small fishers, or municipal fishers who could only go fishing by as much as ten (10) kilometers from the shoreline.
A town in the doldrums economically, this town though had the luck of being chosen as the site for the Provincial Action Center (PAC) of the Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) for Northern Cagayan & Batanes. The PAC building itself was newly done in 1981 when we respective personnel occupied it. No sooner had we sat down there, I being the new Livelihood Coordinator for that area, when we got swamped with inquiries about the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran or KKK, the new enterprise finance program of government.
It was from this town where my team encountered many small planters and fishers. One group of fishers comprised of gentlemen who each had some fishing gears to operate, comprising of a 12-18 foot canoe (made from wood) with out-trigger, fish net, volvo outboard motor, and accessories. In contrast to the capital town of Tuguegarao where the experience was an attitude of luke warmth-to-indifference of folks towards the KKK, here there was enthusiasm about the program.
After some discussions with them, my team arranged for visitations of the operation area (coast). We had to be careful in dealing with these guys, because that town was home to the insurgent New People’s Army (NPA), and any mistake would turn out risky and costly. Without them telling us, I sensed that some of the folks were in fact doing espionage work for the NPAs. Instead of getting scared of that situation, I took it as an opportunity to show to the folks that development work is sincere, that if we can deliver the goods these same folks would cooperate well with the “new kids on the block” (team of development managers & implementers). Even the NPAs would admire us and not bother us and our beneficiaries for ‘revolutionary taxation’ which they never did.
It took us almost a month of discussions, visitations, and preliminary data gathering before we could decide what to counsel the folks. First, the fishers knew how to go about with their business, but their lives aren’t improving much, so it must be made clear to them that there is a gap in their competencies including technical (their gears are backward, though indigenous to the area). Second, we had information about the fishery resources in the locality, and knowledge about how to expand their markets. Third, we got the extra information that the town folks produced bagoong, or fermented fish, though production was primitive (home-made fermentation using terra cotta jars).
Piecing up the information together, including what institutional innovation to introduce, we then counseled the fishers confidently of the following: (1) instead of individual proponents, the group will cooperativize; (2) certain technical skills, including the management of the cooperative, the finances and control systems, and the marketing strategies, will be taught to them; (3) bagoong production will be the forward integration component for processing of small fish types (notably the dilis); (4) fishing nets will adjust to the larger team of fishers, so that bigger nets can be utilized and bigger outputs yielded.
After getting the clear nod of the group, we went about with our partnering business, taking another month to produce the business plan, begin cooperative training and assist in processing document, designing the tank for the bagoong production site (we had an engineer who helped us design a concrete tank), and other tasks. The funding then was so open, so when the group submitted their documents and I endorsed the project for approval (funding at P350,000), it didn’t take a month for final approval (by the regional office) and the release of first tranche of funds.
Construction of the bagoong site began immediately, coupled with acquisition of larger boats, nets and gears. In no time at all did the contractor finished the ‘factory’ site, which had a concrete tank of 10 feet long by 4 feet width, and 2 feet height. Fermentation formula was 1:4 (1 can of salt for every 4 cans of fresh fish). The upper portion contained a faucet located 6 inches below the top, which released the patis (fermented sauce) that floated on top.
Upon launching and initial catch plus initial fermentation, our team and the proponents were so elated at the result. The bagoong tasted really good, so was the patis qualitatively good, it didn’t take the group a hard time to market them. So with fish catch (sold pronto in the coast to middlemen traders) and bagoong + patis as sideline, the fishers finally tasted better life. This is truly bagoong for better living, and remains among the legacy of Gonzaga.
[Writ 07 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
[Writ 04 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Good afternoon! Food be with you! (Hmmm that’s to borrow from Christian’s ‘peace’ maxim…)
You may wonder how we stakeholders of development do our coordination here in the Philippines, and I’d say coordination is practically the same everywhere. It involves ‘partnering’, an unraveling of distrust and a sincere effort to cooperate and collaborate. Partnering eventually creates strong institutions, thus catalyzing development further.
I was just a 23-year old enterprise supervisor in the defunct Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) in 1982, when news came out that development councils will be constituted at the regional level. It used to be part of partnering mechanisms at the regional level, with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) serving as secretariat, till it floundered and slept in the late 1970s.
When the regional development council or RDC woke up again, circa 1982, the MHS was already making waves in the development arena. This agency was eventually mandated to revive the council, in collaboration with the NEDA and all provincial governors. I remember then that the charismatic and management-savvy Governor Faustino Dy of Isabela was elected 1st chair of the revived RDC, with Area Manager (regional director) Tito Osias of MHS serving as convenor.
Down the hierarchy of power and influence the provincial development councils or PDCs were also constituted. I had the luck then of representing the MHS to begin building the PDC core in Batanes, the same core being the members of the KKK Secretariat (KKK = Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran or National Livelihood Movement, a major state funding program for enterprise) then emerging. My provincial and deputy bosses, who was almost always out of the region (their families were in Manila), mandated me to be the lead convenor for the core building of both bodies.
It was a fruitful work to begin with, the task in Batanes. State and business representatives were invited to comprise the core, down the mayor’s level. Civil society was weak here then, there were no developmental NGOs to invite here then, so it was purely a state-market synergy we had there in Basco (capital town). Within just three (3) months of consultations, our coordination outputs were simply enormous, the targets could overwhelm a single agency if it were left alone to implement them. But with many partners to achieve the goals, including modernizing the pier and acquiring a ship dedicated for Batanes alone (the islands were practically isolated from the ‘mainland’ Luzon), development goals are optimistically achievable.
Acquiring the experience I needed for my next task, Cagayan, I then moved to add inputs to a PDC core plan that was already begun then before I occupied my Tuguegarao office (capital town). Because there was a provincial manager-designate, and my post was just recently upped to deputy provincial manager, my first tasks were to travel to different towns and subtly convince the mayors and line agency partners at that level about the need for development coordination at the provincial level. That ‘massaging’ had to be done, because mayors were reportedly luke warm about the idea of a PDC.
After three (3) months on the job, my provincial manager was sadly sacked from duty, and so I had to take over as Acting Provincial Manager. Then did I do the convenor tasks at its core, with Governor Cortez role-playing PDC chair. Mr. Bagasao, provincial head of the Ministry of Local Governments (MLG), was co-convenor. There was no NEDA office at the provincial level, so the MHS-MLG-Governor’s Office served as lead implementers of the council. I myself prepared the agenda for all succeeding meetings.
It was quite tough a work there, I recall. Cagayan was quite large a territory to navigate, state officials and business groups too many to manage, but we did make headway in forming the active core. State officials could hardly see each other eye to eye at local levels, but there they were in the council, forging inter-agency linkages as semblances of ‘committee work’ of a gigantic cooperative. Sadly, the mayors were absentee, and this almost piqued me at some point to the extent that, warlord-like, I would challenge those pretentiously all-knowing absent mayors to some war games to show them I was serious in the job.
But again, like the Batanes narrative, the Cagayan experience was largely a state-market synergy, with nary a developmental NGO to invite. What we did then was to invite peasant and fisherfolk groups, which were largely enterprise-group types, but that was the best remedy then for the absence of NGOs there. (Contrast this to today’s Cagayan where dozens of developmental NGOs are in operation.) We set the rules of engagement, built interagency teams, ironed out convergences among state agencies’ plans, got inputs from the chamber of commerce and dealers’ groups, and then conceptualized new projects. Among those new projects during my watch was the industrial estate in Sta. Ana (today’s CEZA).
It was an altogether fulfilling experience for me then as a budding technocrat. I loved every bit of the job. Walls among state officials were broken down, cooperation gelled, new bold and ambitious projects were identified, existing ones were fast-tracked (irrigation, electrification, public works, enterprise finance, food sector development). It was beautiful!
Sadly, I had to leave that work, as I needed to go back to my schooling: to the University of the Philippines where I longed to take up my masters degree in sociology. I simply monitored the ensuing institutionalization efforts for the councils…till later, I heard about the constitution of municipal and barangay (village) development councils. That’s partnering at work, and mind you, it surely works if you put your heart and mind into it. It brightens up the world a bit.
Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago
[Writ 05 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Perhaps the readers may recall that a couple of years back, Sec. Angelo Reyes of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) initiated massive tree planting and the constitution of ecology volunteers’ groups for the purpose. The trees were visibly planted along the pan-Philippine highway and strategic areas, for greater impact generation.
That project was very appreciable, but it was not the original thing. In the years 1979-81, the new Ministry of Human Settlements or MHS constituted village brigades comprising of volunteers, one such brigade being the ‘ecology balance brigade’. With ‘ecology balance’ identified among the ’11 Basic Needs of Man’, it was but proper to organize brigades and enact ecology balance via massive tree planting, biodiversity where appropriate, recycling or ‘waste utilization’ projects, and new laws declaring as mandatory in all new residential villages the allotment of 30% of land for parks & open spaces alone.
I joined the MHS in early 1981, then fresh from college, as a community services assistant at the Regional Liaison Office – Regioin II. I recall well that one of the first tasks I had to do was to monitor the brigades and town-level organizers (Human Settlements’ Officers). The ‘ecology brigades’, to my amazement, were at par in organizational development with the others (water, power, education, S&T, mobility…), its members actively engaged in localized projects.
But the most focal impactful project of that time was the massive tree planting, with the giant Ipil-Ipil serving as lead crop. The small native ipil was also massively disseminated, more so that it served as good input for livestock feeds. The miraculous thing about the giant ipil-ipil was that it grew so fast, its branches extending outward at rapid rates, and so it took no time at all to harvest them.
Unlike the Reyes-initiated project that concentrated cultivation in main arterial roads, the Maharlika tree planting (as the MHS dubbed the project then) cultivated in both the arterial and peripheral roads. And, in pioneer ipil tree farms inland, many of which took off and benefitted the small planters with great fulfillment.
It was during my monitoring sortees to the different towns of Cagayan Valley that I conducted the extra task of morale-boosting the ecology brigades and briefing the HSOs accordingly about the massive tree planting program. By the start of the 2nd quarter of 1981, we staff devoted succeeding days for immersing ourselves in the tree planting efforts, documentation and consultations with tree planters, and networking with state agencies that supported the project. We did the same thing again in 1982, and another session in 1983 (my last year in the MHS/Region II).
Seeing the success of the 1981 wave of ipil cultivation, the newly constituted livelihood program quickly caught the ecology fever and designed ‘tree farming’ and ‘dendrothermal’ projects, utilitizing ipil trees. They were circumscribed within the ‘agroforestry’ and the ‘waste utilization’ project modules (there were 7 such modules then). Seeing my acumen for project development, the new management pulled out pronto from community services and was directed to be among the pioneer staff for livelihood, which I so gladly accepted. I had many wonderful moments brainstorming and conceptualizing enterprise projects, from micro- to SME levels, including this wave of ‘tree farming’ and ‘dendrothermal’.
The seedling banks for ipil trees, both giant and small, were simply too many that they dotted the entire archipelago, including Manila. Likewise was the market for ipil so huge and well established, including the feed mills. It need not belabored that the giant trees contributed in no small measure to the oxygenation of the surrounds, and protective canopies for travelers and pasture breeds.
We volunteer and small planters than considered ourselves true ecologists. And, thanks heavens, there were no ‘environmentalist’ groups then, whose ceaseless sloganeering is so annoying they could have slowed down the projects altogether. I really have the great wish that these ‘environmentalists’ will immerse their hands in production and re-green the mountains, so they can join the true ecologists and exercise Oneness in spirit and action. It may not be too late for them to do just that.
Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago
[Writ 04 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
As I went around Batan Island, Batanes province’s main isle that contains the capital Basco and the domestic airport, for the 1st time in 1981, I immediately scheduled visits to the Mayors of Mahatoa, Ivana and Uyugan towns. I heard from my kins, the Basco Mayor Castillejos included, and staff that these towns still practiced consuming ‘sweet potato’ and ‘gabi roots’ as staples. Prior to that, I saw with my own eyes the huge bulbs of garlic that dwarfed the golf-sized ‘native’ varieties we had in the ‘mainland’ (Luzon). I told myself I can’t miss out on this opportunity to biz-track the root crops of Batanes.
I was then livelihood coordinator of the Ministry of Human Settlements for Northern Cagayan & Batanes in the 2nd semester of 1981, so I had the mandate to do development tasks for this paradise island. So enchanting was this province that I literally experienced heart pains whenever I left Basco back for Tuguegarao and Gonzaga in Cagayan where my official headquarters were located. Part of the enchantment was the wonderful root crops there: sweet potato (kamote roots), gabi roots, garlic, onion, and ginger.
Right away, upon arriving at Mahatao town hall, the lady mayor served my team fried sweet potatoes that were sliced so thin they would pass for some manufactured sweet potato chips. The lunch came, and there went out the boiled sweet potato, served alongside the viands. Lunch was also served with the wonder wine made from sugar called palec. No rice was served at all.
After lunch we visited farm lands planted with the root crops. I was amazed to see farms planted in the old biodiversity way rather than the nutrient-damaging monocrop system. All the root crops mentioned here co-existed in plots as small as half a hectare. The small planters than informed me that they were interested in increasing the volume of production and explored marketing some products to the ‘mainland’. They needed some fresh funds to increase the land area (via purchase), install good storage facilities, and working capital for farm inputs and marketing expenses later.
I was then motored to Ivana town after that, and lastly to Uyugan (hmmm am I right in my ordering?). Traversing these towns was via an asphalted road at the periphery of the islands, and overlooking the sea below. To your left are the stone houses of Batan, much like those of the isle of Capri in Italy. Herds of Brahman cows and carabaos could also be seen, consuming the luscious verdant pastures of the rolling hills. Perfectly idyllic! Splendid! …I heard practically the same things from the small planters there, about the need to expand production.
That is, the prototype ‘root crops project’ there would turn planters from subsistence producers to commercial producers, turn them into agro-businessmen. Seeing that the planters knew what they were aiming at and how to achieve it, save for writing the technical papers (biz plans, proposals) and processing them, I “jumped the gun” pronto and declared that for the whole of Batanes (including the other isles of Sabtang and Itbayat that was nearer Taiwan than Batan) will have root crops production as priority investments for state assistance.
As soon as I convened the new Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran Secretariat there (I was already the deputy provincial manager-designate), I put on the top agenda that root crops and indigenous crafts of the island shall be preserved, not only as part of the development program there but also because the products and crafts are part of the national heritage. Anticipating the ‘green revolution’ in Batanes then, I also put on the agenda of the core Provincial Development Council the fast-tracking of electrification and wharf expansion, and the acquisition by Batanes of its own maritime ship that will enable trade expansion by leaps and bounds.
With only a year to operate in Batanes, I did everything I can to see to it that the development principles and targets I initiated there will take off at least, sensing that I might be re-assigned (promotions for this young technocrat was dizzyingly rapid). P500,000 worth of root crops projects alone, owned by small planters, were approved in early 1982, during my watch (that’s P10 Million today). Couples of millions more worth of projects were on the pipeline. Happily, when these projects took off, the National Electrification Administration team arrived, installing at last the long awaited electrification facilities in Batan.
Finally, let this be stressed strongly, I moved for the retention of the biodiversity practices in Batan. With ‘ecology balance’ among my agency’s priority agenda, I had sufficient weapon to support biodiversity rather than shift the planters to mono-cropping that sadly sapped out soil nutrients in ‘mainland Philippines’ since their inception during the time yet of Spanish Governor General Basco (1700s).
Every time I left Basco back for Tuguegarao then, I also had on hand more than a kilogram of garlic, sometimes with onions and ginger. I was so proud of the garlic that I always brought a few samples to show to my kins and fellow state officials in the ‘mainland’. The same variety now is cultivated in many regions of the country. But Batanes’ cutting edge is fully recognized: garlic & rootcrops here were planted in the sole paradise islands of the north. Ipso facto, they are root crops that enchant too, like their mother soil.
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
[Writ 04 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Good afternoon! Food be with you! (Hmmm that’s to borrow from Christian’s ‘peace’ maxim…)
You may wonder how we stakeholders of development do our coordination here in the Philippines, and I’d say coordination is practically the same everywhere. It involves ‘partnering’, an unraveling of distrust and a sincere effort to cooperate and collaborate. Partnering eventually creates strong institutions, thus catalyzing development further.
I was just a 23-year old enterprise supervisor in the defunct Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) in 1982, when news came out that development councils will be constituted at the regional level. It used to be part of partnering mechanisms at the regional level, with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) serving as secretariat, till it floundered and slept in the late 1970s.
When the regional development council or RDC woke up again, circa 1982, the MHS was already making waves in the development arena. This agency was eventually mandated to revive the council, in collaboration with the NEDA and all provincial governors. I remember then that the charismatic and management-savvy Governor Faustino Dy of Isabela was elected 1st chair of the revived RDC, with Area Manager (regional director) Tito Osias of MHS serving as convenor.
Down the hierarchy of power and influence the provincial development councils or PDCs were also constituted. I had the luck then of representing the MHS to begin building the PDC core in Batanes, the same core being the members of the KKK Secretariat (KKK = Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran or National Livelihood Movement, a major state funding program for enterprise) then emerging. My provincial and deputy bosses, who was almost always out of the region (their families were in Manila), mandated me to be the lead convenor for the core building of both bodies.
It was a fruitful work to begin with, the task in Batanes. State and business representatives were invited to comprise the core, down the mayor’s level. Civil society was weak here then, there were no developmental NGOs to invite here then, so it was purely a state-market synergy we had there in Basco (capital town). Within just three (3) months of consultations, our coordination outputs were simply enormous, the targets could overwhelm a single agency if it were left alone to implement them. But with many partners to achieve the goals, including modernizing the pier and acquiring a ship dedicated for Batanes alone (the islands were practically isolated from the ‘mainland’ Luzon), development goals are optimistically achievable.
Acquiring the experience I needed for my next task, Cagayan, I then moved to add inputs to a PDC core plan that was already begun then before I occupied my Tuguegarao office (capital town). Because there was a provincial manager-designate, and my post was just recently upped to deputy provincial manager, my first tasks were to travel to different towns and subtly convince the mayors and line agency partners at that level about the need for development coordination at the provincial level. That ‘massaging’ had to be done, because mayors were reportedly luke warm about the idea of a PDC.
After three (3) months on the job, my provincial manager was sadly sacked from duty, and so I had to take over as Acting Provincial Manager. Then did I do the convenor tasks at its core, with Governor Cortez role-playing PDC chair. Mr. Bagasao, provincial head of the Ministry of Local Governments (MLG), was co-convenor. There was no NEDA office at the provincial level, so the MHS-MLG-Governor’s Office served as lead implementers of the council. I myself prepared the agenda for all succeeding meetings.
It was quite tough a work there, I recall. Cagayan was quite large a territory to navigate, state officials and business groups too many to manage, but we did make headway in forming the active core. State officials could hardly see each other eye to eye at local levels, but there they were in the council, forging inter-agency linkages as semblances of ‘committee work’ of a gigantic cooperative. Sadly, the mayors were absentee, and this almost piqued me at some point to the extent that, warlord-like, I would challenge those pretentiously all-knowing absent mayors to some war games to show them I was serious in the job.
But again, like the Batanes narrative, the Cagayan experience was largely a state-market synergy, with nary a developmental NGO to invite. What we did then was to invite peasant and fisherfolk groups, which were largely enterprise-group types, but that was the best remedy then for the absence of NGOs there. (Contrast this to today’s Cagayan where dozens of developmental NGOs are in operation.) We set the rules of engagement, built interagency teams, ironed out convergences among state agencies’ plans, got inputs from the chamber of commerce and dealers’ groups, and then conceptualized new projects. Among those new projects during my watch was the industrial estate in Sta. Ana (today’s CEZA).
It was an altogether fulfilling experience for me then as a budding technocrat. I loved every bit of the job. Walls among state officials were broken down, cooperation gelled, new bold and ambitious projects were identified, existing ones were fast-tracked (irrigation, electrification, public works, enterprise finance, food sector development). It was beautiful!
Sadly, I had to leave that work, as I needed to go back to my schooling: to the University of the Philippines where I longed to take up my masters degree in sociology. I simply monitored the ensuing institutionalization efforts for the councils…till later, I heard about the constitution of municipal and barangay (village) development councils. That’s partnering at work, and mind you, it surely works if you put your heart and mind into it. It brightens up the world a bit.
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
[Writ 03 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Dios ta aggawaw! (Ibanag equivalent for ‘good day’!)
It may seem yucky a reportage to many obsessive-compulsives out there to hear that earthworms serve the most noble purpose of reinforcing our food needs. I mean not only the wormy task of processing our soil, but the true-blue blending of processed earthworm to produce biscuits and wafers.
That technology—of vermiculture—was born for way back three (3) decades today. I was just an entry level community development staff at the Ministry of Human Settlements’ RLO (regional liaison office) in 1981 when I had my first taste of wafers containing vermiculture inputs. The wafer was distributed by my agency to disaster refugees, often alongside the nutri-bun or bread reinforced with protein.
Protein is the nutrient so potently contained in the worm. And the agency’s Technology Resource Center (today’s Technology Livelihood Resource Center) was itself among the developers and distributors of the technology, aside from the National Science Development Board (today’s Department of Science & Technology). The wafer, as you ought to realize, tasted so damn delicious you’re going to ask for more packs right after your first taste.
When I was moved to livelihood as a coordinator, my reverie about this deli-earthworm wafer was jolted by the arrival of a team of entrepreneurs, young and ebullient, right at my office. The year was late 1981, and the team was bullish about installing a full-production base of vermiculture, right in my hometown of Tuguegarao. “Vermiculture in this semi-sleepy town! Hello!”
Upon a cursory review of the business plan forwarded by the team (both gentlemen, names now escape my memory), and then moving my focals back to the gentlemen, I recognized not only the feasibility of the project but also its vitality for Cagayan province that was essentially agriculture till these days. I told myself, “these guys are pretty serious!”
Cognizant of the competence of the team, who were already trained in vermiculture as indicated by their certificate, I immediately arranged for a visit to their demo site that was inside the home of the main partner. Right in front of my eyes I beheld these worms so huge I thought they must be some extra-terrestrial earthworms. But no, they were the simple backyard worms we know, though grown specially or in controlled environment. A sample worm was as stout as my forefinger and as long as 14 inches. Wow!
Not only that, but the two gentlemen (who applied as a partnership for funding thru the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran or KKK) even demonstrated before our eyes (I was with some junior staff) that the worms can be prepared salad-style. Vinegar and salt with pepper was prepared, and voila! The worms, still alive, were dipped right into the salad dressing and eaten raw. By golly! You’d puke if you’re not prepared for this.
Well, to cut the story short, I had this project recommended for priority funding and take off. The team knew what they were doing, from production to marketing of the products. They already had some commitments with their end-users that they attached to the application documents. In 1982, it became one of our showcase livelihood projects in Tuguegarao, and the gentlemen had their feast of invitations for demo lectures, radio interviews and recognition in the KKK Recognition Day (held once monthly).
Now, as to tasting the ‘dancing salad’ of live worm, well, hmmmm I’d prefer the wafer (smile). No, no, I can’t eat any raw live animal thing, my stomach is quite weak and sensitive. Let them cook the worm, and maybe I’ll try it. Well, that’s a culinary item, so let’s just hope someone’s got to write something about nice spicey earthworm cuisine.
Bro. Erle Frayne D. Argonza
[Writ 01 May 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]
Hi Fellows! Kumusta kayo! (How are you doing!)
You may wonder how a man, convicted for murder and imprisoned for a long period, possessing just a single arm (he was amputated of his left arm), would survive life after prison. This is the success story of a man from Solana town, Cagayan province (northern Philippines), whose name now escapes my memory when I met him in 1982.
Solana is a new town carved out of its mother town, the capital town Tuguegarao, and lies just across the mighty Cagayan River from the capital town. 700,000 years ago mammoths roamed this area, whose remains, including those of Paleolithic man, were freshly discovered by anthropologists in the 1990s. This town could very well be the ‘cradle of mankind’ in Southeast Asia, who knows?
But among those news that enlivened the quite sleepy town in 1982 was about its scion, whom I’d call Asyong here. Freshly out of prison, possessing nary a thing but a few clothes, he “jumped the gun” right away and took on the challenge of heading towards a successful middle income life, minus his left hand. His town was notorious for producing Jesse James-type assassins, and without him telling me what he did then, I knew he was a dreaded Jesse James (besides my staff whispered the fact to me hmmm).
He was morbidly repentant of what he did in the past though, as I can see in his face and aura (I was already a spiritual seeker than and had started doing yoga meditation). I was the designated Deputy Provincial Manager of the Ministry of Human Settlements for Cagayan, and here was this man whom I thought was bankable and would fit our search for human interest stories of our livelihood program (funded through the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran or KKK). I was also dabbling as concurrent Regional PR Manager, edited our KKK newsletter, was on radio every Saturday of the week for livelihood talks, and here was this petite but dangerous artisan of murder who now wanted to mutate into a genuine artisan of a preferred craft.
Dangling behind his back was a handbag containing a bulging thing. And were it not that one knows his real intention for coming, the bulging thing might be suspected for a caliber 45 hand gun. It turned out to be his model of his craft that he learned inside the Muntinlupa correctional (prison), a transparent 750 gin bottle that now contained inside it a replica of a house surrounded by a mini-garden. It was beautiful! How did this one-armed jack ever do the trick? Well it was no trick but craft, serious craft.
Selling for a mere P35 apiece then, I immediately ordered for three (3) pieces, one would be mine while the two others would be for gift items. I also did the peddling within my office by urgently meeting my staff and informing them of the product, while the Livelihood Coordinator and his assistants did the selling for this humble and short man (he must have been mid 40s then). After hearing his sad travail, I instructed my staff to prioritize this beneficiary, and expected the business plan be done in a couple of weeks or less. His project will be funded pronto upon completion of the biz plan and fast-track training.
Just by viewing the esthetics of the prototype, I was convinced that the product will sell. That was all I needed to establish: the marketability. The rest would be marketing strategy, branding, and packaging. With my good staff behind me to prepare the business plan, it did turn out in the cash flow and income statements that the project was highly feasible. Seeing the bullish biz mien of the proponent himself, it didn’t take long before my staff would complete his training so he and his assistants (he had apprentices) could handle the organizational, financial and marketing aspects fairly well.
The project, funded again through the KKK, did take off not soon after my first encounter with this reformed ex-con. In couples of KKK Recognition Days (we held one every month), I requested this beneficiary to be around so he could be duly recognized. In some occasions I also requested him to do some talks before the audience, which he shyly complied with.
So Fellows, from mammoths and Paleolithic Man to ex-con producing wonderful craft, this town of Solana had it in the 1980s. It’s worth visiting, this town, which now has tour resorts, and hopefully that man (he must be early 70s if he were still alive today) had more than amply exhibited to his town-mates the true way of the Solana Man: a harbinger of civilization.
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
[Writ 12 April 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. The author was former community development assistant at the Ministry of Human Settlements, Region II, in early 1981.]
If Bob Marley were alive today and visited Mayoyao in Ifugao, Cordillera region, he might achieve euphoria even without having to smoke pot. And his cause for Dionysiac wonderment would be: a fishpond atop a mountain. And he’d declare wide-eyed, with nary a 2nd thought, that “the Ifugaos are a free people! Hail Ifugaos!”
Free indeed is this sturdy ethnicity of highlanders, who used to be ferocious head-hunters and were dreaded by the Americans. They have since become tame, no longer do head-hunting, and have instead hunted for tons of bright ideas to multiply their survival chances up in the boondocks.
I was then a newly hired program staff for the Ministry of Human Settlements’ Regional Liaison Office in Region II or RLO-2. We covered the whole of Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera provinces of Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao. As soon as I had a couple of days of briefing as a new staff, I immediately buzzed off for field work to monitor our community services at the town levels where we have deployed community organizers who were dubbed the HSOs (Human Settlements Officers).
Over 250 kilometeres south of Tuguegarao, the location of our liaison office (we were an adjunct of the central office in the region), was Ifugao which had to be traversed via Nueva Vizcaya. Armed with my monitoring sheets, itinerary, cassette recorder with The Police and Sex Pistols playing, and an escort of truly-armed Philippine Constabulary (our regional supervisor was Gen. Olivas of PC Region II), I visited couples of HSOs in Vizcaya for a day first, after which I proceeded to Mayoyao.
Well, the road to Ifugao was narrow, winding and gravel-rough, and only single-lane. And down below was crevice, hard rock, or some cursed dangerous vertical wall that King Kong would hate to scale. And my balls (excuse me) quickly moved from down loin up to past my head, as the goose bumps overwhelmed my being till we reached Mayoyao 40 kilometers from Banawe.
The recompense for the rough and hazardous ride was the beautiful scenery, so grand and beautiful beyond words. The best-looking rice terraces are found here, not in Banawe that is merely the entry point. And, without doubt, the fish pond built atop a mountain whose peak was leveled for the purpose.
How many places on Earth could one find fishponds that are not only impossible to build but also costly? And this one was built from concrete. Rectangular in shape, around it was classy cobble-like stone and cement aisle. Below is the pond, around two (2) meters deep, with the fingerlings just seeded. Covering around one (1) hectare in size or so, it was actually more of an experimental prototype, though the town residents thought of producing at commercial levels. Tilapia was the experimental species, to recall.
The Cordillerans are truly a wonderful people in terms of innovativeness in thriving. They’ve already chiseled out the mountains into productive rice lands. Now they followed through with fish farming, and of all places, atop a mountain.
The project, installed by cooperating agencies (mayor’s office, MHS, Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources or BFAR), was a success for the duration of my stay then in the MHS (I stayed till 1983). And there were no reputable enterprise financing programs for these types then. They funded it themselves, via local funds and private donors.
So for those who are interested to know the success story, please visit Mayoyao in Ifugao. Enjoy the ride up there. For relaxation, you can choose between bottles of gin or local rice wine (tapoy). And better quaff them, because whether hot or cold days, it is always cold up there. Ride the wave of the moment!
Bro. Erle Frayne D. Argonza
Good day to everyone!
There is great reason to be electrified with joy in the Philippines over the electrification of the islands. For sooner or later, way before 2010 is over, no more town or village shall ever remain darkened by the eons-old absence of electricity. Power development will then move on to its more ambitious tasks, including electrifying the powerless zones of other countries.
As a little boy then who grew up in the entrepot town of Tuguegarao, I knew what it is to have zero electricity. Power generation was weak in the 1960s to mid-70s, and at times power was available only once every three (3) days. I had to use ‘candle power’ to light my way to academic success, but at the cost of ending up in high school with an uncorrectable near-sighted vision and missing out on the military academy that required perfect eye vision for entry.
With my eyes damaged by the weak power generation, I was “compelled” instead to study in the premier state university. After finishing my sociology degree, with some background in industrial engineering, I vowed to plunge my hands in my own boyhood region’s development, vowed “rage against the dying of the light” by coercing stakeholders, where necessary, to electrify the area, or else…
My agency of choice, the Ministry of Human Settlements or MHS, was so powerful we technical staff and execs practically sat and imprinted our hands in all of the interagency committees in any area, down to the grassroots. Cagayan then had the luck of prioritizing electrification, via the CIADP (Cagayan Integrated Area Development Project) that was directly under the country’s president, and so my task of monitoring and seeing to it that the set targets were done on electrification and other goals (irrigation, infrastructures) will be achieved as much as possible. Where bottlenecks will surface, my agency will refer the matter upstairs to quicken the resolution of the gridlocks. By dint of this arrangement, as convenor of the provincial development council here I had a real good chance of “coercing” (well, influencing is better) stakeholders to do their job well.
In Batanes, where I dipped my hands in 1981-82, there was already an advanced plan to electrify Batan and Sabtang islands via the National Electrification Administration’s intervention. Batanes had zero electricity then, save for Basco the provincial hub that was powered by a generator. My task here was more of listening to the local planners and implementers, report the same to my bosses, and to input the progress as a planning item for the forthcoming livelihood program KKK (knowing when power comes allowed us to project what enterprises to plan and support, since refrigeration will be made possible in due time there, thus enabling food preservation).
Those were the days, my friends. Today the national landscape is one where close to 97% of villages are lighted. Grid interface technology had already been