This time will be sweeter?

Sen. Imee Marcos was trying to sell the Masagana 99, a pet project of her father, the late dictator. She claimed that it was successful as she urged the government to muster a program like it to assist farmers. One of the resource persons in that Senate hearing was then Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez who couldn’t resist giving the senadora a history lesson.

“Ma’am, before we go ahead, you mentioned Masagana 99. I was the Secretary of Agriculture that cleaned up the mess that was left by Masagana 99,” Dominguez said. “There were about 800 rural banks that were bankrupted by that program. We had to rescue them. So, whether it’s a total success or not, it has to be measured against that,” he added.

The senadora replied that Masagana 99 did not benefit the banks but it sure did facilitate Philippine rice exports. Secretary Dominguez debunked this too: “We never exported, Ma’am.”

Masagana 99 was a failure. In a 2012 study, researchers at PIDS, the state-funded think tank, noted how Masagana 99 failed to uplift the still-struggling farm sector while also leaving poor farmers highly indebted. Their failure to repay loans also tarnished the balance sheets of many rural banks.

Well, on his 67th birthday, President Marcos unveiled the Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid (APP) program to increase the rice yield in 1.2 million hectares. With an initial funding of P3 billion from the DBP, APP targets increasing farmers’ productivity and income by providing them low-cost credit, financial assistance and a ready market for farmers’ harvests in areas near major irrigation systems like Upper Pampanga, Magat and the Cordillera.

A farmer with one hectare of rice land will receive P58,000, covering production costs – inputs, land preparation, hauling, including a subsistence allowance of P32,000 which will be given P8,000 monthly for four months, with crop insurance cover. The APP proceeds will complement government subsidies for inputs, services and insurance totaling P14,500 per hectare.

Per DA estimates, an APP farmer could net P65,000 per cropping, based on five tons per hectare yield and after repaying the loan, interest and taxes. The amount includes a P32,000 subsistence