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MOSTLY known for Boracay, the ultimate tourist paradise, the
Province of Aklan is actually a very rural place. Palay was laid out
on the road for drying during a recent visit. Farm activities are
evident everywhere. Aklan is known for its fine handicrafts and gift
items made from natural materials, the piña cloth being the most
famous.
However, Aklan does have its share of problems.
About 40% of families are reportedly living below the official
poverty threshold. Bag-ong Barrio is a barangay with only 87
families. Located in the hinterlands of Makato, Aklan, the village
until recently didn’t have a water system. Residents had to walk
far to fetch potable water. There are only two CRs (restrooms) in
Bag-ong Barrio. The village isn’t connected to the electric grid.
The elementary school, already short on classrooms, lost its roof to
a recent typhoon. I was told that parents have to enroll their
children in other barangays. Disputes are reportedly settled by the
barrel of a gun—carrying guns or other types of firearms and
displaying these publicly—is common in this farflung formerly
rebel-infested barangay.
About 91% of the mangrove cover in the area
known as Batan Bay and Tinagong Dagat has disappeared since 1953, a
study found. The sea water is now eating up some of the islets in
the area. One of the causes of mangrove deforestation is the
proliferation of fish ponds. Many of these, I was told, are owned by
local politicians. Mangrove reforestation efforts began last year to
reverse the trend. These efforts are spearheaded by the local
governments, the local fisherfolks and Developers Foundation, a
local NGO.
Developers, while being a traditional NGO with
foreign funding sources, has embarked on commercial hog raising to
become financially independent from its donors. A couple of years
ago, the NGO borrowed money from Quedancor to buy sows for its hog
raising project. Like other borrowers, Developers was required to
get the sows from a certain livestock supplier identified by
Quedancor. Under the agreement, the livestock supplier would also
provide the feeds and technical assistance including veterinary
services. However, Developers Foundation had signed a bad deal. The
quality of the sows supplied was poor. The feeds were often delayed.
The pigs got sick. Employees of the supplier complained that they
were not receiving their salaries and some allegedly stole the feeds
in order to at least get a little compensation for their efforts.
Eventually, Developers decided to terminate the agreement and
returned all the sows—some of them pregnant—to the livestock
supplier, the equivalent of repaying the loan in full.
Other hog raisers stuck to the agreement—and
even when feeds were no longer delivered, and the quality of
veterinary services questionable, these borrowers were still liable
to repay their loans to Quedancor. To recover at least some cash and
minimize their losses, the borrowers sold their stocks en masse,
bringing to an alltime low the local price of pork.
Quedancor allegedly lost more than P1 billion on
the project and the Commission on Audit is said to be investigating
how the agency could pick an exclusive livestock supplier that
wasn’t capable of providing the quality of sows and services that
were required in order for the borrowers to repay their loans.
A short boat ride from mainland Aklan takes one
from piggeries and other images of rural Aklan to a completely
different world, to Boracay. It was my first time to visit this
famous island and it definitely won’t be the last. I saw only a
small piece of Boracay, but enough to understand why this place is
such a magnet to travelers. The cool, fine sand, the sailing boats
with their colorful sails, the sun-tanned people in their beach wear
and henna tattoos, the variety of restaurants, bars and shops, the
kids playing soccer in the sand (the Kiwanis Club of Boracay
sponsors an annual soccer tournament for boys and girls from seven
local schools). It was just a different experience, a different
atmosphere, and it was fun. The spell was only broken by the noisy
engine of the tricycle that brought my companion and me back to the
pier—and back to reality. Yes, we were still in the Philippines.
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