Tambuling Batangas Publication January 23-29, 2019 Issue | Page 5

OPINYON
January 23-29, 2019
CIUDAD MALASAKIT: transition homes for
or in a public school in the
displaced families of Bacoor
city converted to evacuation
BACOOR CITY, CAVITE --
The city of Bacoor is basically
surrounded by waterways:
Zapote River, the Bacoor
creek and partly the coastal
shores. This geographic
location of the city makes the
city prone to flooding during
the rainy season. Its residents
are also at risk to natural
disasters especially tsunamis
brought about by earthquakes.

Displaced families
from evacuation due to
flooding brought by typhoons,
more so with monsoon rains
during the rainy season
find themselves in pitiful
situations cramped up in
covered basketball courts
centers.

This had been the
usual problem besetting the
city government of Bacoor
and in answer to this problem
the city government came
up with Ciudad Malasakit, a
housing facility utilizing the
city government’s disaster
funds which will serve as
Training junior farmers: a hope for
the latter creates a knowledge to the young
agriculture feeding
sense of responsibility mong participants apart from the
By Joy Gabrido
The Binan City Organik Farm
has been firm and strong in
its advocacy to impart the
importance of agriculture,
particularly organic farming,
to the country’s younger
generation.
This
can
be
seen during the recent
implementation of the Binan
City Junior Farmers Training
offered free to residents of
Binan, ages 7 to 11 years
old, and nearby towns.

With the success of
their pilot implementation
in October 2018, the Mondo
Bambini Clubhouse in Brgy.
Zapote paved way to the
second batch of training with
participants composed of
kids from their subdivision.

A series of trainings
was held at the Activity Area
of the Binan City Organik
Farm in Brgy. Dela Paz last
October 26-28 for the first
batch of kids from different
barangays and nearby town,
and November 30-December
2 for the second and latest
batch. Both groups were
composed of 25 Junior
Farmers.

“The purpose of this
program is to familiarize the
kids with farm life, as well as
to let them experience how
to feed the animals and how
to plant,” said Farm Head
Dick Borlaza.

Aside from planting
crops, they were also taught
to tend farm animals as
these children.
Borlaza
also
emphasized the vitality of
instilling the importance of
agriculture and farming to
the minds of children early
on because if not, there might
be no more farmer to till the
land twenty years from now.

“Kaya po maganda
na hangga’t maaga po
natuturuan na po natin sila.
Kung pwede nga pong
gawin na isang semester
ang junior farmers training
ay gagawin namin kasi po
nakikita namin sa mga bata
na tuwang tuwa po sila,”
(It is better to teach them in
advance. If only it is possible
to conduct the junior farmers
training for one semester, we
would because we can see
that they were enjoying it.)

Moreover, through
this program, they have
promoted
among
their
young participants the joy
of playing without using
gadgets.

The “Larong Pinoy”
or pinoy games which
Filipino kids have grown
with like Patintero, Piko and
Football were introduced to
the kids. Art activities were
also incorporated in the
training to foster creativity
among them.

They also added a
fire drill session during the
second batch of training to
help equip the children in
times of disaster, specifically
when a fire breaks out.

These undertakings
have provided additional
fundamentals and hands-on
activities in organic farming.

At
first,
the
organizers of the event
were hesitant with the
idea considering the target
participants of this project
belong to a generation
extremely attached with
high technology – spending
most of their time using their
smartphones, tablets and
computers.

Surprisingly,
they
were gratified with the
outcome since the feedback
of the kids, their parents as
well as the onlookers, fellow
farm workers, and even the
high ranking officials from
the city local government
was affirmative.

“Natuwa po silang
lahat (they were all happy)!”
he said adding that even their
Chief Executive, Mayor
Arman Dimaguila urged
transition homes for families
displaced by calamities like
floods, fire and other disaster.
This
facility
comprising of 120 to
150 two-storey units of
temporary shelter will rise in
Barangay Salinas 1 with the
groundbreaking
ceremony
recently held to commence
construction of this facility.

The said event was
led by Bacoor City Mayor
Lani
Mercado-Revilla
together with Atty. Bernadette
Carrasco of the Housing
Urban Development and
Resettlement
Department,
Richard Quion of the Bacoor
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Atty. Jess
Salvador of the Engineering
Office, Annie Nacianceno of
the Community Development
and
Support
Services
Division,
the
Shapell
Homeowners
Association,
and the Bacoor City Urban
Federation Council.

This is one of the
prioritized projects of the
city government of Bacoor
led by Mayor Lani Revilla
with Cong. Strike B. Revilla,
Vice
Mayor
Catherine
Evaristo and members of the
Sanguniang
Panglungsod.
(Ruel Francisco, PIA-Cavite/
with reports from Bacoor
CIO)
them to continue running
similar activities.

It seemed to be a
tall order in the beginning
yet the result had been
overwhelming.

The Organik Farm
will
be
implementing
another batch of training in
the summer season of 2019.
They are open, however,
to any organization or
government office who
would want to partner with
them and sponsor the same
kind of training.

The farm head urges
parents not to be afraid to
let their children experience
this kind of training. For the
moments of joy in working
with nature should be
considered as an invaluable
treasure, especially as it
produces
incomparable
happiness in the heart of
those young children who
take part in the training
sessions.

This also develops
appreciation
towards
farming and inculcates
lessons that are outside
the box which help them
think critically and discover
potentials.

“We were expecting
them to practice what they
have learned even in a very short period of time. We are
optimistic about this because
the impact of this program
to them is very touching, we
have witnessed how happy
they were with the activities
they’ve undergone during
the sessions,” he said.

He also appealed to
everyone to support their
cause of promoting in the
communities the significance
of farming.

Without someone to
step up and encourage the
new and coming generations
to embrace farming, there
will come a time that there
will be no more farmers to
do the dirty and hard work.
Without farmers, there will
be no food in our tables, he
pointed out.

“Malayo man po ang
ating lakbayin sa usapin ng
Agrikultura, ang mahalaga
po ay atin na itong nasimulan
(We might still have a long
way to go with regard to
Agriculture, but what’s
important is we already have
started).”

The children who
were being trained as junior
farmers through this project
are giving a glimpse of hope
to the future of agriculture
in the Philippines. (Joy
Gabrido, PIA 4A)