Arroyo junks Erap’s ‘1-M hectare’ plan

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said yesterday she was junking the "one-million hectare-one million jobs" agricultural program which former President Joseph Estrada launched before he was ousted last month.

Mrs. Arroyo said the P225-billion budget deficit she inherited from the Estrada administration would not allow such an ambitious program.

"At what cost?" she retorted to suggestions in yesterday’s weekly breakfast forum of the Greenhills Walkers’ Club at Ristorante La Dolce Fontana in San Juan, that she continue the agricultural program.

She said she will unveil her administration’s more realistic agricultural modernization program "based on social equity" when she addresses the Third Mindanao Food Congress in Butuan City this morning.

Mrs. Arroyo said the "one-million hectare-one million jobs" program does not conform with her vision of alleviating poverty, especially in the countryside.

"We have great poverty in the rural areas. That is why the guiding principle is agricultural modernization based on social equity," she said.

"Actually, that is our agenda’s item No. 1. We want to win the battle against poverty," she added.

She said this was precisely why she appointed peasant sector Rep. Leonardo Montemayor as agriculture secretary because small farmers’ groups strongly pushed for his appointment.

She admitted that a young Davao businessman, Luisito Lorenzo, was in her "short list" for the agriculture portfolio.

"Frankly, I doubt if he (Montemayor) will adopt that one-million hectares (program). At what cost?" she said.

Mrs. Arroyo also vowed yesterday that her administration will fulfill the dream of transforming Mindanao into the country’s "food basket" by tapping the full potentials of the island’s agricultural lands.

Mrs. Arroyo, speaking in the luncheon meeting of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said this was why she and her Cabinet decided to declare a ceasefire with Moro rebels to enable her administration to jumpstart the rehabilitation of conflict-stricken areas and revive the peace talks.

In Butuan City, meanwhile, over 600 delegates to the Mindanao Food Congress asked Mrs. Arroyo to make Mindanao the pilot-testing area for the implementation of Republic Act 8550, or the Fisheries Code of 1998.

The participants passed a resolution yesterday, urging that the full implementation of the Fisheries Code be pilot-tested in Mindanao with the Department of Agriculture providing the necessary administrative and funding support.