IN GRILLED chicken-loving Davao City, there is a shortage of broiler supply that is expected to worsen, not because of a bird flu outbreak but due to residential developments edging out poultry farms in districts outside the metro area.

“Most of the land developers are going to Calinan and Tugbok areas, they are buying the lands around us so now if they are near our poultry, we are being closed down because of that. Even if we want to solve the deficit, we cannot because of the expansion problem regarding zoning,” Lalaine A. dela Victoria, president of the Davao Poultry and Egg Producers Inc., told the media.

The group is calling on the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) and the local council to reassess zoning and conversion plans.

Ms. Dela Victoria said they are suggesting that the CPDO assign poultry farm areas and specify these in the city’s geo-map. The city council, on the other hand, could pass a resolution that would encourage socialized housing developers to pursue vertical projects rather than horizontal tenements.

These clear policies, she pointed out, should then guide property developers as well as the poultry-egg producers, who have been looking at establishing a “food corridor” in the Calinan and Tugbok areas.

“But of course we cannot do that alone, we have to get the permission of the council for that to be established. Another big problem is most of the land developers are lobbying that those areas (Calinan and Tugbo) be converted into residential areas,” she said.

Data from the Department of Agriculture-Davao show Davao City alone had a production of 32 million birds in 2016.

Ms. Dela Victoria said a small portion of the total output is sent to Cotabato, but it is mostly sold to the local market, where demand is still higher than supply.

Davao City’s population was about 1.5 million as of 2010.

“For export, Davao City has minimal contribution. Some of our chicken goes to Cotabato province… because there is no dressing plant there so we provide our broiler chickens,” she said.

The poultry group estimates a supply deficit in Davao City of about 20 million birds annually by 2018.

Ms. Dela Victoria said there are about 60 poultry farmers in Davao City, 50% of whom are small growers, or those producing 10,000 to 50,000 birds a year. The other half is composed of big growers with a capacity for 200,000 to 300,00 birds annually.

The number of poultry farmers has not been increasing recently, she said, while the existing ones have not been expanding due to fears of being closed down when real-estate developers come in.

“Supposedly there is planning where an agricultural community, the villages or commercial areas will be assigned in a certain zone,” Ms. Dela Victoria said. — Maya M. Padillo

NO FILIPINO was hurt in the recent attack in Finland, according to a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Sunday, while the number of Filipinos directly affected in the Barcelona attack last week climbs to four.

DFA Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano has urged the 3,500 Filipinos in Finland to stay vigilant and to contact the Honorary Consulate General in Helsinki or the Philippine embassy in Oslo if in need of assistance.

The DFA secretary also conveyed sympathies from the Philippine government to the Finnish government and to the families of the victims.

“We condemn any act that seeks to undermine peaceful and tolerant societies,” he said in his statement.

Four foreign nationals were wounded in the incident, which happened over the weekend in the city of Turku, located at the southwest coast of Finland. According to a report from Embassy Charge d’ Affaires Maria Elena P. Algabre, the attack was carried out by an 18-year old man. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation is already investigating the incident as a terrorist attack.

In addition, Mr. Cayetano said the Philippine Embassy in Norway, which has jurisdiction over Finland and remains in close coordination with the Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Helsinki, is closely monitoring the situation.

BARCELONA
Meanwhile, Charge d’ Affaires Emmanuel R. Fernandez of the Philippine Embassy in Madrid is looking into the condition of the 43-year-old Filipina mother who was injured in the Barcelona terrorist attack. The Philippine embassy is also currently assisting her in locating her seven-year-old son, who got separated during the commotion.

The Filipina and her son are both Philippine passport holders, according to the DFA. She sustained injuries during the terrorist attack in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas tourist district, which left at least 13 people dead and more than 100 injured.

According to Mr. Cayetano, Mr. Fernandez was also able to visit the four Irish citizens of Filipino descent who are now reportedly recovering well.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola, on the other hand, said the Philippine Consulate General in Milan will be assisting the two other Filipinos who were injured in Barcelona. The two sustained some bruises and will be accompanied to a hospital and debriefing on Monday, the DFA said. — Mario M. Banzon

By Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral
Reporter

THE LEGAL framework of the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic nation, has been considered among those that upheld principles of religious freedom in 2016, the US State Department said in an annual report.

However, the report flagged President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s diatribes against the Catholic Church as well as attacks by Muslim militants and reported “tensions” between different religious and ethnic groups in conflict-affected areas.

In its 2016 International Religious Freedom Report issued last week, the first to be released under the Trump administration, the State Department recognized the “free exercise of religious profession and religious worship” provided by the Philippine Constitution.

The report also noted the government’s efforts in maintaining religious freedom, as well as Mr. Duterte’s approval of a “strategic peace road map” last year that aims to address the concerns of Muslim and other separatist groups in parts of Mindanao, the country’s southern islands.

It likewise highlighted the Duterte administration’s formation of an “expanded” and “inclusive” Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) tasked to craft a draft law that will establish a new Bangsamoro political entity with enhanced political and economic powers.

“The road map aims to uphold all preexisting Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreements within constitutional parameters, including the role of sharia,” the State Department said.

Despite the country’s legal foundation that guaranteed religious freedom, the report noted Mr. Duterte’s verbal assaults against the Catholic Church, which has been opposing his bloody drug war that has taken the lives of thousands of alleged drug traffickers and users.

“President Duterte said the Catholic Church was the ‘most hypocritical institution’ for questioning his morals in the lead-up to the May presidential election. In October President Duterte called members of the Catholic clergy ‘sons of whores’ for questioning deaths resulting from an ongoing government-sponsored anti-crime campaign,” it said.

“As of the end of the year, there were no reports of governmental follow-up to these statements,” it added.

The State Department then flagged the firebrand leader’s previous controversial remarks likening himself to Adolf Hitler in describing the killings of drug peddlers under his anti-narcotics campaign, which angered international Jewish organizations and prompted the President to apologize.

It also mentioned the assaults carried out by terrorists like the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), and “instances of discrimination” in economic opportunities and public statements — via the internet and social media –“denigrating the beliefs or practices of particular religious groups, particularly Muslims.”

“The government attributed a series of killings, attacks, and kidnappings for ransom to the terrorist ASG and other Muslim militants… Because religion and ethnicity are often closely linked, it is difficult to categorize many incidents as being solely based on religious identity,” reads a part of the report.

“Religious scholars and leaders within the Muslim community and Catholic and Protestant churches said that while relations among religious groups in society were generally amicable, there were reports of tensions between different religious and ethnic groups, especially in conflict-affected areas.”

As cited in the State Department’s report, a 2010 census conducted by the National Statistics Office found that approximately 81% of the Philippine population is Roman Catholic while around 9% belong to other Christian groups and about 6% are Muslims.

The remaining 4% of the country’s population either did not report a religious affiliation or belong to other groups, such as the various animistic and syncretic religions.

TROPICAL DEPRESSION Isang, the 9^th typhoon to enter the Philippines this year, is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm, according to the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). The Batanes and Babuyan group of islands have been placed under typhoon signal #1 as of 11 a.m. yesterday. PAGASA said there will be moderate to occasional heavy rains within the 300 km diameter of Isang, which will also enhance the southwest monsoon and bring moderate with possible occasional heavy rains over Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), Bicol, and the Visayas islands. Isang is forecasted to be out of the Philippine area by Wednesday morning.

THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) will provide an P18-million loan to vegetable farmers in Cebu province, which will not require a collateral and with a 6% annual interest. The loan will be made available to farmers’ cooperatives or a rural bank that will manage the credit, according Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol. The DA chief said farmers in the municipality of Dalaguete, during a recent dialogue, expressed the need to access loan programs to boost their production. Mr. Piñol added that farmers who own marginal lands but produce quality vegetables that are sold in Cebu City and the nearby islands, as well as Manila, said they were paying an interest of 10% monthly for the money that they borrow to buy seeds, farm inputs and farm equipment. “After responding to their requests for roads, water hose, drums and minor needs, I announced to the farmers that the Agriculture Department through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) will extend the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program to them,” Mr. Piñol said in a Facebook statement over the weekend. — Janina C. Lim