By Jesus L. Arranza

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has issued an executive order concurring with the recommendation of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to revert 144 hectares in Sumilao, Bukidnon, from agro-industrial to agricultural, on petition by a group of Sumilao farmers. The decision imperils the vision of San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) which has spent P2.4 billion to develop the land into a modern, high-tech agro-industrial estate.

The Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) has earlier aired its misgivings about the wisdom of reconverting into farms the 144-hectare land for which SMFI had spent millions to transform into a productive agro-industrial estate.  We warned this might send a wrong message to would-be investors in the rural areas.  But the President has made a decision and FPI respects that decision.

But by the same degree, FPI would respect and, beyond that, even encourage any course of action SMFI may decide to pursue to protect its rights, to fulfill its vision.  After all, to make a stand, even one that collides with popular sentiments, is a guaranteed right in a democracy, so long as its guidepost is not emotion but the rule of law.

While we respect the judgment call of the President, we cannot help but feel some regrets that the vision of SMFI to bring the blessings of modern technology and massive investments to the people of Sumilao, and for that matter, to the whole province of Bukidnon, might no longer happen.  What kind of blessings, for example?

Taxes, the operation of SMFI would shoot the town’s tax revenue through the roof, from the present P3.3 million to P98 million;

Jobs, the SMFI project would generate employment of 2,400 workers, minimum, excluding the 400 personnel needed to man the project’s facilities;

Financing, the project would enable farmers to access financing for farm inputs that would translate to increased farm productivity and higher pricing;

Income, the project would put more money in farmers’ pockets, coming from the estimated SMFI’s annual payroll of P50 million, and from higher corn prices which competition between SMFI and traditional buyers will induce.

But perhaps, all is not lost.  At the end of the day, a revisit of the presidential decision, plus a round of non-confrontational talks between SMFI and the farmers that FPI sincerely urges, may produce a compromise beneficial to all.  Partnership between farmers and SMFI is a natural and formidable combination, the farmers producing the corn and SMFI processing their produce.

And if the farmers who were already given 65 hectares adjacent to the 144 hectares are really all het up about owning land and want some more, there are at least 46,000 hectares of idle government land in Sumilao.  Why not open this huge tract to them and to others who want to farm?  The government can use the money it would pay SMFI if the 144 hectares go to CARP, to build infrastructures, irrigation system and other farm facilities in the new farm settlement.

FPI has always maintained that compromise is not just an option; it’s a necessity in a modern society struggling to make all its systems work in harmony to energize the economy. 

Jesus L. Arranza is president of the Federation of Philippine Industries Inc.

AT 10 a.m. Thursday, the President led a grand welcome for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) returning for the holidays, with what airport authorities had billed as a “literal red-carpet” ceremony.

For Shoko Tendo, nothing brings back the bad memories like bloody fingers in the night.

“As a child, there would sometimes be knocks at the door at all hours from men holding pinkies that they’d just cut off,” the 39-year-old author tells me in Tokyo. “It was my earliest realization that my family was different.”

It’s Christmas in a couple of days or so, and in this issue, I share with you the inspiring Christmas messages of our dear Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, whom we fondly call “Lolo Dency,” and our new Nuncio, Archbishop Edward Adams.

Are we a race of suckers or just happy-go-lucky people?

Are we a race of suckers? Or are we just a plain happy-go-lucky kind of people?

I use the question to bring to the fore what appears to be our wishy-washy attitude toward science and technology as a concrete means to propel the country into the developed world.

Jesus L. Arranza: Rule of law, not emotion, should prevail

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has issued an executive order concurring with the recommendation of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to revert 144 hectares in Sumilao, Bukidnon, from agro-industrial to agricultural, on petition by a group of Sumilao farmers.