uproot pichay now

Surigao del Sur ranks 6th among the country’s poorest provinces, having 48.6% of its population to be under the poverty threshold. It is one of the four provinces of CARAGA region, the second poorest region in Mindanao after Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the fourth poorest region in the Philippines. Although Surigao del Sur is not the poorest province in CARAGA, it is still considered as one of the bottom provinces in the Philippines in terms of poverty.

According to the National Statistics Coordination Board, as cited in Philippine Daily Inquirer report (PDI, 06/14/06), the poverty threshold level as of 2003 was set at Php 12,475 per person or Php 34 a day. Around 47,142 families in Surigao del Sur are only earning Php 11,227 per year which is far below the poverty line.

Most of these families belong to the Indigenous Peoples’ group and are considered more vulnerable than the other groups living in the province. More than 30% (or around 150.000 persons) of the half-million population of the province are considered Indigenous Peoples (IPs).

Many of the IPs lived in the interior part and highlands of the province. Mostly are surviving through hard work in the forest and in the mountains. Their children do not have access to school. They need to walk all-day long, crossing the rivers and mountains to go to a town where they can buy their basic needs and sell their products. This is simply because the government had never provided them with good infrastructure. Anyway, if the national highway connecting Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur has never been good….how much more the roads going to the interior part of the province.

The “supposed-to-be responsible persons” had forgotten that this infrastructure can help improve the life of the poor -who, for a very long time, expecting that their leaders will do something in their behalf. As one farmer may say, “ANG PICHAY NAMIN AY WALANG SILBI, DAHIL SA MGA KALSADANG DI INAYOS NG MABUTI”. True, isn’t it? How can the farmers sell their “pichay” if it will be immediately rotten due to the absence of farm to market road?

Will they be proud to plant another “PICHAY” if the situation will be always like this? It is so sad to think that PP, (as in Prospero Pichay) has been PiPi (mute) to voice out in congress the real needs of his people. During his stint as Congressman, maybe, PP has just made Pro Pangako but it is always Pro Napako!

PP is now asking to be planted in the senate, spending more than 33 million in Political Ads. If you are a farmer from Surigao del Sur, will you plant PICHAY again?