CORTES town Mayor Lyn Iven Lim put cold water on the insinuation that the fleet of farm equipment that appeared to be laying idle in a place is not true.
The reaction of the mayor came after a radio anchor Romeo Tolonghari posted the photos of the farm equipment but did not mention where these equipment are located or stored.
The post went viral as Tolonghari was in a defensive mode due to bash on him. He said that the post of his was not meant to hit the present administration but to call their attention on these equipment for allegedly not being used.
This writer found that the said equipment are being placed in barangay New Lourdes near the house of the acting municipal agriculturist Veneranda Morgia as confirmed by the mayor.
The mayor told this writer in exclusive interview that the equipment that they are being kept in a place that is far from being corroded by elements.
He reacted to the facebook post that the said equipment were photographed when it was covered for safety purposes. It might have been that it was deliberately uncovered by unscrupulous interest just to take photos of those equipment.
He said he smells “political” connection why the said equipment were being posted in social media.
When asked when did the town received those equipment, the mayor said that it was during the immediate past provincial administration.
The said equipment were already use, in fact, an ordinance regulating their use is already in place as confirmed by Kagawad Sumabong in a separate interview.
But for agriculture regional director Angel Enriquez those machineries looks like “were not utilized.” She told the Agri-fishery consultative assembly at the Capitol that the agriculture is quite alarmed about the facebook post of farm equipment that “nakatiwangwang.”
She said that the farm equipment were granted by the Department of Agriculture thru the Rice Enhancement Competitive Fund (RECF).
Enriquez suggested to the provincial and municipal agriculturists to conduct an inventory of all their farm equipment to find out which are operational or not.
She said that if the agreement on farm equipment allows, the said equipment, if not used, will be pulled out and give them to other farmers who may make use of them. (ricobedencio@yahoo.com)
