Solano, Nueva Vizcaya—Quirino Governor Dakila Cua praised the success of cooperatives of his neighboring province of Nueva Vizcaya in addressing the 2020 Agrarian Reform Summit convened by the Department of Agrarian Reform on Thursday (March 5) here.
“I envy the rising billionaire cooperatives of Nueva Vizcaya,” Cua told the audience before he delivered his keynote message.
He represented Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, who was not able to make it as the main guest of the event.
Vice Governor Jose Tomas Sr. also graced the summit to represent Nueva Vizcaya Governor Carlos Padilla, who was out of town at the time.
Tomas is the founder of Tam-an Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which started as a very small group in Banaue, Ifugao back in the 1990s.
Tam-an MPC established its headquarters in Bayombong, where it grew as one of Cagayan Valley’s billionaire cooperatives with branches in Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya and Ifugao.
Cua hinted that cooperatives are key to the financial management of government funds for farmers.
“My father, Congressman Junie Cua, is currently studying the old Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act of 2009, which mandates banks to allocate 20 percent of their loan portfolio to farmers,” the younger Cua said.
The governor claimed that reviving the old law would consolidate P7 billion to P8 billion pesos loan funds available to farmers.
In his message, DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones recalled that one year had already passed since the Rice Tariffication Law took effect.
Responding to the manifestation of a farmer who complained he suffered heavy losses due to rice importation, Castriciones said: “While some benefitted from the stabilized price of rice in the cities, it was the farmers that felt the hardship and we should honor their sacrifice by giving them the support they need.”
Castriciones enumerated government initiatives to alleviate these losses, such as the unconditional cash transfers from DSWD, farm equipment and inputs from the Department of Agriculture and DAR, and low-interest loans from Land Bank.
He also praised agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations, with 1,500 of them present in the summit held at the Convention Center of the Malabing Valley Multipurpose Cooperative in Barangay Bagahabag here.
Malabing MPC is also a multimillion-peso cooperative venture, which is based in the citrus production sector.
DAR also turned over 86 Certificate of Land Ownership Award titles, five big farm tractors, a dozen of small farm implements, and other agricultural inputs during the event.
