Visayan Daily Star
Fbruary 4, 2012
CEBU CITY — A solon allocated at least P100 million of his pork barrel funds for the “Sagip Saka” advocacy program of the 24 agricultural communities nationwide, a government press release said.
Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, chairman of the senate committees on agriculture and food, and social justice and rural development, and co-chair of the congressional oversight committee on agriculture and fisheries modernization, said the budget was taken from his Priority Development Assistance Fund.
Pangilinan said “Sagip Saka” is meant to give agriculture and fisheries sector the importance it deserves by building sustainable farming communities nationwide as a means to achieve food security. He added that it aims to provide access to investments and credit; open access to market and roll out infrastructure.
The ‘Sagip Saka’ advocacy is realized through the collaborative efforts of the Department of Agriculture and other government agencies; the business sector; farmers and fishers cooperatives; civil society organizations and micro-finance institutions and local government units.
At present the first phase of Sagip Saka already have 24 beneficiaries from the agricultural communities nationwide spread out to cooperatives, agricultural organizations and local government units in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Other government agencies and local government units also extended their financial supports for Sagip Saka. The Department of Agriculture allocated P20 million for the Ifugao Rice Terraces; the local governments of Cavite and Bicol allocated P5 milion and P4 million for the Cavite and Bicol pilot projects, respectively.*PIA
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