Reaching out to Filipinos living in country's edges

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi -- Tawi-Tawi, the country's southernmost province where people in its many islands say they could hear the roosters crowing from nearby Sabah, Malaysia, is a key food production area long neglected and overlooked because it is considered as one of the most dangerous corners of the Philippines.The province is one of the country's richest fishing grounds and when I visited Bongao, the capital town, on Monday I discovered just how abundant the harvests from the seas are.Guided by the young mayor of Bongao, Jimuel Que, the Department of Agriculture Biyaheng Bukid team toured the fish market and found out that fish was sold not by the kilo but by heaps or tumpok. On Monday, the seas were rough but the prices were still very, very low compared to those in the other markets in Mindanao.What was amazing was the presence of very rare sea products like sea catfish, sea mantis (alupihang dagat), and live coral fish.Touring the fish market and later the old and dilapidated fish port just beside the market, I realised just how much the rest of the country is missing in terms of fish supply simply because of the failure of government to reach out to this province at the edges of the Philippines.Two Dept. of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretaries, Usec. Eduardo Gongona of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and Usec. Ranibai Dilangalen of Special Concerns and Bangsamoro Areas, were given specific assignments right there and then.Usec. Gongona was instructed to ensure the delivery of more FB Pagbabago fiberglass fishing boats to poor Badjao and Sa'ma fishermen in addition to the 20 units which I brought with me on Monday.A new fishing port in Bongao would also be constructed along with ice-making and cold storage facilities to ensure that the fish catch of the province would reach the hungry mouths in other parts of the country.From Bongao, I was supposed to proceed to Simunul and then Turtle Islands en route to Brooke's Point in Palawan using the BFAR Research Ship and the Philippine Coast Guard's BRP Tubbataha but I was advised not to go through with the 24-hour sea voyage because the seas were very rough.After meeting with the farmers and fishermen for the Biyaheng Bukid Forum in Bongao Proper, the DA team took the BRP Tubbataha for what was supposed to be an overnight trip back to Zamboanga City.It was the only option available for us because the lone flight of Cebu Pacific from Bongao to Zamboanga City was fully booked.What was supposed to be a 10-hour voyage which started at 9 p.m. turned into a 17-hour rough and dizzying ordeal through the big waves of Tawi-Tawi and Sulu.But it was a journey worth every hardships the DA team took because it opened my eyes once more to the fact that if only we, officials of government, would take a little time to journey to the edges of the country, we will be able to discover a lot of solutions to the problem of how to feed a growing country of 105-million people. Image may contain 6 people people sitting and food sand//scontent.fmnl4-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16708605_1257778047637995_2952128325473179797_n.jpg?oh=3871b9e555604b3f1625f09120d14ad5andampoe=58FDC433 Image may contain 4 people sand//scontent.fmnl4-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16711878_1257778160971317_3462359575261322862_n.jpg?oh=4b4853bae754d4cf234080c221f06cdaandampoe=590295F1 Image may contain 9 people people smiling people sitting sand//scontent.fmnl4-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16708690_1257778374304629_8608700060237347675_n.jpg?oh=162de7f56c8ab7bb4459dbc4c5667c76andampoe=5944AB0A Image may contain 11 people people sitting and outdoor sand//scontent.fmnl4-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16708552_1257788270970306_7088310182476674375_n.jpg?oh=196b8fde9c8bb03c478df3b63eaded5dandampoe=59069CAE Image may contain 1 person outdoor and food sand//scontent.fmnl4-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16684119_1257776897638110_7997196223694118277_n.jpg?oh=b3b5e5e38378bcb1c953e88fc0bbe060andampoe=59012D4E Image may contain 6 people sand//scontent.fmnl4-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16711525_1257828067632993_7645276287367471963_n.jpg?oh=4ab6314372171c4e1e47dc876227475eandampoe=5900BEFF