BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
BINGAWAN, Iloilo – Mayor Matt Palabrica wants this municipality of 14,000 inhabitants to industrialize in order to rise above poverty.
While it is primarily agricultural, he said on the program Reklamo Publiko on DyOK Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo yesterday, “The absence of irrigation system makes it impossible for us to maximize harvest. We are good only for two croppings of rice.”
Since the town has rich soil suited for fruits and vegetables, too, Palabrica would like his people to engage in entrepreneurship.
“Our saba banana,” he said, “is now being manufactured into banana chips. We already have mechanized chipper to maximize production. Unfortunately, most of our bananas were destroyed by super typhoon ‘Yolanda.’”
The mayor said he had talked to researchers on how the residents could venture this into organic farming.
While there is no college in Bingawan, Palabrica said high school graduates study in Passi City and neighboring towns.
“In fact,” he said, “we now have many teachers but there are not enough elementary and high schools here to employ them.”
Asked whether the Department of Agriculture had helped construct farm-to-market roads, he denied it.
On the other hand, the mayor announced that Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. had pledged to defray some amount for a bridge and farm-to-market roads linking six barangays to the poblacion.
He said Bingawan had been allotted with P30 million for road improvement to be implemented next year.
Palabrica revealed that out of his town’s P44 million internal revenue allotment (IRA), P40 million or 96 percent is from the national government.
PEACE BEGETS PROGRESS
The Sangguniang Bayan of Bingawan has passed a resolution denouncing armed violence and appealing for peace to prevail in the municipality, revealed Palabrica.
His fourth-class municipality can further progress if peace is sustained, he stressed.
Palabrica confirmed that insurgency remains one of the challenges facing his landlocked town located in the 3rd District.
The Sangguniang Bayan’s resolution is sending a strong message to the New People’s Army (NPA) – Bingawan wants peace, said Palabrica.
The mayor said he is leaving it up to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Army to deal with the problems posed by insurgents in his mountainous municipality.
According to intelligence reports reaching the PNP national headquarters in Camp Crame, Metro Manila, communists were plotting to assassinate Palabrica.
Acting on the information, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) assigned police personnel to secure the mayor last month.
Palabrica has long been vocal against the presence rebels in his municipality.
Information reaching Camp Crame spoke of an NPA “target list” that included Palabrica’s name due to the mayor’s “anti-NPA activities.”
The IPPO also ordered the Bingawan police station to beef up its security measures and intelligence gathering.
In a previous interview, Palabrica said “death threats are not new” to him.
“When I entered politics, I made it clear I am against rebel activities. I received death threats several times in the past,” the mayor said.
Dismissing the threats to his life, Palabrica said the local government of Bingawan will continue to reach out to the people even in far-flung villages./PN
