BY DANNY O. SAGUN

PANGASINAN - a sleeping giant?

Gov. Amado T. Espino must be hurting when agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap during his visit last week in Rosales referred to the province in such a negative light as far as agricultural production is concerned.

If we recall, political enemies of former Gov. Victor E. Agbayani were lambasting him and his father, the late Aguedo, for their alleged failure to turn this big populous province into a giant (minus the modifier “sleeping” of course) economically and politically.

The critics compared Pangasinan to other progressive provinces. (We really don’t know if the comparison is reasonable since every province has its unique characteristics.)The province, despite its huge IRA from the national government, the biggest in fact among all province-recipients, could not move forward and that people here remained generally poor, they claimed.

Well, Espino has been around for some eight months but we could not say this early that his administration already made a very tangible accomplishment that merits him an “A” for a grade.

Except for the renovation and beautification of the Capitol compound and its buildings (which actually started during Victor’s time), we could not point to a program or project that is truly exceptional. In the minds of many observers, the situation is no different from the past. “Iso met laeng,” as Ilocanos would say.

Perhaps, agricultural production here has not improved that much and way below the desired results prompting the good secretary to note that Pangasinan remains a sleeping giant in that aspect.

There are several factors affecting agricultural production here. One is lack of irrigation facilities. The ballyhooed irrigation component of the San Roque dam has yet to be put in place, a dream yet unfulfilled since its conception more than a decade ago. The project needs several billions of pesos which government could not produce now unless a lending institution comes to the rescue. Existing irrigation facilities need rehabilitation and many are becoming unoperational.

Another factor is that more and more lands are being turned into housing facilities, commercial areas, and for purposes other than agriculture. Third, few people are turning to farming as their source of livelihood. Fourth, the weather is unpredictable and so are other problems facing agriculture. And fifth, farmers hardly abandon their primitive traditional ways and spurn new or modern techniques.

Government is really worried with the feared rice crisis due to hit us this year because of low production levels. Our officials are talking with rice exporters like Vietnam and Thailand to get an assurance for enough supply. There may be enough supply but what we worry is the lack of money to buy our needs.

A sleeping giant? It takes a miracle to wake it up. Who knows, ‘Espines’ may be the ‘Miracle Man” we’re waiting for?.