To Agri Tayo Soccsksargen, My Unsolicited Advice – PADASEM A!

On Facebook today, Thursday, 08 August 2019, I see the Soccsksargen II post titled "Priority Concerns For The 1st 100 Days Of Agriculture Secretary Dr William D Dar" that lists 14 such items. The tone of the post is this:

These are our major concerns, Mr Secretary – now they are yours! Address them all to make us happy!

Sorry, gentlemen and ladies, I know Mr Dar does not work like you want him to! He was Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, for 15 years. That was unprecedented yes; it was also unprecedented that his major manner of working with public and private individuals and institutions is, in 1 word:

Partnership.
As in, public, private, philanthropic, peasant, provincial partnerships.

That is to say, with Mr Dar, you seek first partnership so that you will know what you can demand from others, and what others can demand from you!

If you want Mr Dar as Secretary of Agriculture to help your group, you have to help yourself first!

We are all in this together. We talk and decide what to do together, not just tell each other what we expect the other side to do.

Mr Dar is Ilocano; I am Ilocano. My advice is contained in the popular Ilocano phrase, which is also a sentence: PADASEM A! literally means "Try it, please!" It is in fact an acronym:

PADASEM A!
Partner Actively with Department of Agriculture
in Socio-Economic Matters for All!

In the case of the Soccsksargen II list of 14 "Priority Concerns," their #1 is my #1 problematic:

1.  Ensure the proper and efficient implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law, particularly the management of the P10-B Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) including that of the formulation of the Rice Industry Roadmap.

Sorry, Mr Dar is notthinking priorities. And not thinking of only a Rice Industry Roadmap.

Here is Mr Dar's list given in his Press Statement last Monday:

(1)   Modernization of agriculture;

(2)   Industrialization of agriculture;

(3)   Promotion of exports;

(4)   Farm consolidation;

(5)   Roadmap development;

(6)   Infrastructure development;

(7)   Higher budget and investments for agriculture; and

(8)   Legislative support.

Mr Dar said, among other things:

We must all unite behind President Duterte to find more ways to make smallholder Filipino farmers and fisher folk more prosperous.

The Roadmap Mr Dar is talking about is the entire PH Agriculture Roadmap. This is what Mr Dar is specifically thinking about the Roadmap:

The government, through the Department of Agriculture, should take the lead in generating the "big ideas" for the Roadmap, and should solicit inputs from the private sector and other stakeholders.

While the DA takes the lead, it also encourages local stakeholders coming out with inputs, like those of Soccsksargen II talking with the local DA representatives or regional officials, not to mention private groups, deciding on any common concerns.

No single group can simply tell the Secretary of Agriculture: "Here is a list of our problems. You solve them!"

PADASEM A! should prevail always.@517