RESETTLEMENT SITE. Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol inspects the prospective "Balik" resettlement area in Barangay Miarayon Talakag, Bukidnon, on Thursday (June 11, 2020). Governor Jose Zubiri offered the vast vegetable production area as a proposed resettlement site for beneficiaries of the "Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa” program. (Photo courtesy of MinDA)
DAVAO CITY – Bukidnon Governor Jose Zubiri has offered a vast vegetable production area in Barangay Miarayon Talakag, Bukidnon as a proposed resettlement site for beneficiaries of the "Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program, an official said Saturday.
In a Facebook post, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the area has an elevation of over 1,400 meters above sea level and part of a declared military reservation.
“On Thursday morning, after spending the night in a small lodging house in Talakag proper, I and the team from MinDA inspected the prospective ‘Balik’ resettlement area in the town. Residents will be introduced to high value vegetable production, including strawberry farming, with the help of experts from the Cordillera,” he said.
He added the Talakag Balik Probinsya Resettlement Village will be designed in the same pattern as the Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte model.
The area, which was declared a military reservation by Presidential Proclamation 134 in 1963 by President Diosdado Macapagal, straddles the boundaries of several towns of Bukidnon, including Wao, Lanao del Sur.
“Accompanied by Talakag Mayor Vergito Factura and farmer leader Ryan Daño, we were briefed on the potentials of the area for food production with the support of government through farm-to-market roads, small water impounding systems, solar irrigation and vegetable processing and packing facilities,” Piñol said.
He added it was Zubiri who suggested that returning residents of the province from the congested urban centers be resettled in the area to turn the vast land into production areas for high-value vegetables.
"They have to work and become productive members of their province, that’s what the Governor told me when I called on him three weeks ago as we introduced the ‘Balik Probinsya’ program which is being pushed by Senator Christopher Lawrence Go and supported by President Rodrigo Duterte,” he said.
The program aims to shift development efforts in the countryside while at the same time decongesting the urban centers of informal settlers.
MinDA has already identified four resettlement areas, including the Talakag Village, in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte, and Bukidnon.
“Next week, the MinDA team will revisit Zamboanga del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Surigao del Norte and Sur, Davao Del Sur, and Agusan del Norte which are among the Mindanao provinces with huge numbers of residents who would like to come home from Metro Manila under the ‘Balik Probinsya’ program,” Piñol said. (PNA)
