CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Comebacking governor Eddie “Among Ed” T. Panlilio has accused the administration of Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda of neglecting the agri-cultural as well as education sectors in the province.
Panlilio said Pineda has failed to “find a cure to the real problem of the province which is poverty.”
Government is not only social services, he said, referring to Pineda’s program of providing basic health services to sick Kapampangans.
During a recent interview at his office here, Panlilio said the Pineda administration has forgotten the agricultural sector when “in fact Pampanga is 60 to 70 percent agricultural.”
“Ala yang malino program keng agriculture (She has no clear program in agriculture). Nothing that I know of,” Panlilio said referring to Pineda. He said he has been going around the province since October and visited Lubao farmers about five times.
“They (Pinedas) have been in power for 21 years in Lubao: nine years Lilia, nine years Delta, three years Mylyn, but they did nothing to contribute to the agricultural sector there,” said Panlilio.
“I asked the farmers nanung sinaup ning munisipyu kekayu during these 21 years? Nanu pung balu yung sinaup ning munisipyu? (I asked the farmers what has the municipal government done to help you in the 21 years? Do you know of any assistance that it had given to you?).”
“Ala lang asabi (They were mum),” Panlilio said adding that Lubao is about 90 percent agricultural.
“Pilan na ko pung banwang ortelanu? (How many years are you as a farmer?),” asked Panlilio.
“Some were tilling the land for as long as 40 years, some 20, some 10. Their average age is 54 years old and nobody among their children wanted to follow in their footsteps because they see no hope in agriculture which was badly neglected.”
Panlilio said Pineda only gave token assistance to the farmers. “Memye yang ditak keng seed availment and the farmers told me they were late in coming (she gave a little in seed availment…),” Panlilio said.
However, Panlilio admitted that Pineda gave post-harvest facilities like threshers and dryers two or three months ago. But he said these came from the Department of Agriculture (DA). Panlilio said even if Pineda opted to shoulder the 15 percent equity of the farmers from the post-harvest facilities, these were already rusting “kalawangan nala.”
He said he asked Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to look into the anomaly.
Crying scholars
In the education sector, Panlilio said some 150 beneficiaries of the Capitol’s scholarship program under his administration came to him crying and begging for his help after Pineda stopped their funding.
“Education is also a cure to poverty, she should not have done that,” Panlilio said.
However, Pineda has announced that the provincial government will be spending at least P25 million in scholarship grants to poor but deserving Kapampangan students this year.
“Naglaan po tayo ng P25 million para sa scholarship ng ating mga estudyante para magkaroon sila ng pagkakataong makatapos sa pag-aaral at makatulong sila sa kanilang mga pamilya,” she said during a meeting with the local officials from the towns of Apalit, San Simon, Sto. Tomas and Minalin.
She said that aside from health programs, she is also investing on the education of Kapampangans by giving them free access to schools in the form of scholarship grants.
Pineda believes that with proper education of the people, there is more to achieve for the province of Pampanga.
Last year, the provincial government spent more than P176.4 million for the construction of 182 classrooms and several covered courts in various public schools in the province.
