“Never Again!” Shouts UP Head Angelo A Jimenez, Lawyer. “Ever A Gain!” Shouts UP Alum Frank A Hilario, Creative Writer & Editor

And this (from Facebook): “Bishops Remember Rights Victims On Martial Law Anniversary.” UP alumni and not, they distinctly remember The Negative and shout, “Never again!” 51 years have passed and they remember only the bad. The Positive I shout, “Creative Freedom Is Good Where Academic Freedom Is Bad!” 
(“Never” from facebook.com/esc.upd)

UP System President Angelo A Jimenez says, “I enjoin the whole UP community to participate in ‘We Remember,’ a series of activities that will commence with ‘Noises And Voices Of Memory And Dissent’, a ‘noise-making’ event on 21 Sept 2023, 12:00 NN-1:00 PM.”

Up to now, I am the one and only “Outstanding Alumnus For Creative Writing” in the entire 100+ years of the entire UP System (check out “Frank A Hilario, Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing, 2011,” 19 May 2013, The Los Baños Esprit, thelbesprit.blogspot.com).

And now, thinking inventively, I enjoin the entire UP System to be ingenious and think of any “Ever A Gain!”

Concrete Example from UP Alumni: I am an agriculturist, BSA major in Ag Edu (2.36 weighted average); I am now thinking of “Cooperatives As Drivers Of Rural Growth” by William Dar (21 Sept 2023, Manila Times, manilatimes.net). Note: That Times column appeared on Martial Law Day – but UP Alum Mr Dar was not thinking of “Never Again” but instead, if I may say so, “Ever A Gain!”

Whether UP Alumni or not, instead of being Disruptive, we Filipinos must be Cooperative! Here is a concrete example from UP Los Baños PhD alum (1980) and former Secretary of Agriculture William Dar (his Times column I already mentioned above).

There, Mr Dar says:

THE global agricultural landscape is currently undergoing many changes, from adoption of more sustainable or eco-friendly systems, to digitalization. And the country's agriculture sector must not be left behind.

PH has been left behind!

One of the countries that [have] taken bold steps to level up its agriculture sector is India, with a member of the Indian government's public policy think tank agency NITI Aayog saying that the government will increase the number of cooperatives nationwide.

Specifically, NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand said that the Indian government will establish cooperatives in every village of the country where there is still no cooperative.

Mr Dar quotes Mr Chand as saying “the Indian government’s call” is for “Prosperity through cooperation.” We UP alumni, instead of counter-operating, we should be co-operating! Being active members of cooperatives should teach us much more than UP ever did! UP is good, but not (yet) good enough!

Mr Dar says:

Another big development from India for its agriculture sector is the onboarding of 1,600 farmer producer organizations in the Open Network Digital Commerce…

[This] is a big step to linking farmers directly to the market for their products through digital channels. … India is forging ahead with this as that country is the leader globally in the information technology-business process management industry.

And we Filipinos? We are laggards when it comes to information technology!@517

“Success Stories Of Filipino Farmers” – Why Have Not “Agriculture Monthly” Featured Hundreds, Thousands, Nay Hundreds Of Thousands Of Them!?

A Google hound, I was googling for “success stories” of PH farmers and I saw these (above images): “Success Stories Of Filipino Farmers” (from youtube.com) and “Agriculture Monthly” (from Facebook facebook.com/agriculturemagazine). The YouTube webpage is showing only one success story; the Facebook page likewise shows only one story.

I ask now: “Why cannot they list, say 5-10 success stories of Filipino farmers at any one time – they don’t know? The honest answer is: They can’t find such a number!

In the 1960s, my father, Lakay Disiong (Dionisio), was a farmer and one of the “successful” farmers in our hometown Asingan, Pangasinan. That is, he could pay back his debts and have some money left for the rest of the year – and more. But he could not afford to send 2 boys to college at the same time – and UP College of Agriculture (UPCA, now UP Los Baños) was hardly expensive!

Why because my father was engaged in Chemical Agriculture (CA) – applying chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides, which are expensive. CA is High Costs, so? Low Returns! That’s the economics I know – and hate.

I studied for my BS Agriculture (major in Ag Edu) at UP College of Agriculture (UPCA) 1960-1965, but I never heard about Organic Agriculture (OA). Our lecturers and instructors had not been instructed on OA themselves. I blame the Americans who founded UPCA. When I ransacked the UPCA library in the mid-1960s, I did not find OA books or articles in American magazines.

How can the millions of Filipino farmers be successful in their farming when their costs are high and their returns are low?!

My recommendation: For hardworking Filipino farmers to be as highly successful as they deserve, they have to be assisted by government in shifting to Regenerative Agriculture (RA), RA methods being essentially organic. A few RA examples that farmers already are familiar with: intercropping, green manuring, and relay cropping. The chemical fertilizers and pesticides applied are preventing millions of farmers from becoming financially successful!

More. Now then, to me, with Regenerative Agriculture a successful farmer generates each one of these:

(1)   Healthy soils

(2)   Healthy crops

(3)   Healthy harvests

(4)   Healthy foods

(5)   Healthy markets

(6)   Healthy pockets

(7)   Healthy villages.

What we have are millions of farmer dreamers!

Published by the Manila Bulletin, Agriculture Monthly is now 16 years old, starting with Zac Sarian as founding Editor In Chief. The magazine is now digital – where are stories of farmers who have transcended their poverty themselves?!

And no, Agriculture Monthly has not discovered Regenerative Agriculture – why not?

And no, the magazine is not talking about organic agriculture much, so it cannot do much about increasing the number of successful Filipino farmers on its pages!

If I were Editor In Chief of Agriculture Monthly, I would feature hundreds if not thousands of essentially organic farmers and gardeners. Or with external funding, I could start a new magazine – if you don’t know me, you can visit my blog “The Editor In Chief”, the-editor-in-chief.blogspot.com).@517