I DO NOT know how they are doing it in the United States, but over there, it is the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that certifies that the produce are organic, even if there are also private certifying bodies that do the same.
The USDA certification is probably not free either, but it is probably cheaper than the private certifiers.
How I wish we can do that here too, for the benefit of poor farmers who could not afford to pay the private certifiers.
Since the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) is not offering free organic certification services, almost anyone could claim that their produce is organic, according to their own minds, or probably according to their mothers.
There appears to be some local certifiers also, but these are expensive from what I hear, and none has achieved the same credibility as the USDA certification.
Aside from having chemical-free and uncontaminated soil, the key to genuine organic agriculture is having organic fertilizers and natural insecticides, meaning that these are also chemical-free.
And in addition to that, the fertilizers not only have to be organic, these should be virus free and bacteria free.
Sad to say, there have been cases of people getting sick because of contaminants in organic vegetables. I wish that the government would study the comparative economics of using organic fertilizers versus chemical fertilizers. While the former could be cheaper, the production could be lesser.
Could the DA make that study?
NIGHT HIGH SCHOOLS
La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong and St. Scholastica’s College in Manila are two of the Catholic schools that are offering free or affordable education for high school students who could only attend classes at night.
Since these two schools started with their programs, many have already graduated, and many are now productively employed.
As I understand it, these two schools are also blending TESDA accredited vocational courses into their curriculums, in such a way that their graduates have the option of finding employment right away, aside from the other option of proceeding to college.
I do not know what it would take to convince the rest of the Catholic schools to follow the example of La Salle and St. Scholastica’s, since this is a wonderful idea that should be replicated nationwide.
Hopefully, more schools owned by religious orders will follow suit, and better if the diocesan or parochial schools would also do it. I know for a fact that Catholic schools already have enough tax exemptions that enable them to fulfill their mission of educating the youth, but I also would not object to the idea of giving them more incentives if they also cater to adult students, something that these two schools are already doing.
What is an even better idea I think is for Catholic schools or any school for that matter to offer online classes so that anyone, anywhere could take any course anytime./PN
