FLORIDABLANCA – Pampanga Gov. Lilia “Nanay” Pineda and Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian launched here on Friday an integrated agro-forestry program that aims to reduce poverty among Aetas through agricultural support, bamboo planting and by-products and protection of their ancestral domain.
The comprehensive anti-poverty program also mitigates climate change because the bamboo forest in Barangay Nabuclod has nursed 108, 872 clumps in 536 hectares since 2011, Governor Pineda said, citing data from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, a partner in the program. She started the bamboo forest project during her first term as governor in 2010.
She ordered a stop to the selling of bamboo poles that fetch only ₱20 a piece and urged Aeta villagers to reserve these for drying to be made into bamboo chairs and desks that the provincial government will buy for some 12, 000 day care schoolers in Pampanga.
“Nabuclod is an asset because its bamboo forest has grown. We will be training the Aetas in making bamboo byproducts while we supply raw bamboo to furniture makers in Pampanga, Laguna and Cebu,” Governor Pineda said during a meeting with Aeta elected officials and Floridablanca Mayor Michael Galang. A training center that will double as factory and warehouse will be built in Nabuclod.
She also instructed Mayor Galang to secure the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) of the 5,457 hectare land of Nabuclod Aetas amid reports of land encroachments and illegal sales. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan, she added, will investigate the CADT status after a probe by the local legislative council.
In Friday’s launch, Governor Pineda and Secretary Gatchalian also visited the farm plots of Aetas in sitio Camachile who cultivate vegetables in eight hectares inside the Floridablanca National Agricultural School. Social Welfare Undersecretary Diana Rose Cajipe and Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao accompanied the secretary.
The officials also distributed planting tools, fruit and vegetable seedlings and fertilizers to the villagers. A total of 1,393 Aeta families received food packs.
“We have to combine immediate assistance with agricultural support and livelihood training so that poverty reduction is more effective,” the governor explained to reporters.
Secretary Gatchalian supported the initiative by the governor, saying he and DSWD officials will check the progress of the integrated agro-forestry program from time to time.
