Rubber Support Project Goes to Waste?

INSTEAD of being used as coagulating tub for harvested raw rubber, the rubberized coagulating tub ended up as cattle feeding tub or as laundry basin.

Manong Roberto appeared to be contented seeing that his horse has a new feeding tub. He showed the tub to this writer saying, “Gikan man ni sa munisipyo, libre ran ni (This one comes from the local government for free).”

In another barangay, the coagulating tub was used as laundry basin.

Manang Rosita said the tub is “a lot more durable than her laundry basin purchased from a local store.”

“Lig-on (durable),” she intoned.

Manong Roberto and Manang Rosita are among of the 1,210 farmers of Ipil town, this province who received the rubberized coagulating tubs during the Araw ng Ipil celeberations last month.

The recipients, according to Municipal Agriculturist Edgar Apao, was identified by DTI from a masterlist of rubber farmers listed last 2014. These farmers are from the 21 barangays of Ipil town namely Buluan, Bacalan, Caparan, Domandan, Doña Josefa, Guitoan, Labe, Logan, Lumbia, Maasin, Magdaup, Lower Pangi, Makilas, Taway, Suclema, Timalang, Tenan, Tiayon, Tomitom, Upper Pangi and Veterans Village, all of which are identified as having rubber plantations.

“The purpose of the distributed containers is to aid rubber farmers in producing clean rubber lumps as an answer to an allegation that went out from previous years that raw rubber supplies from Sibugay are dirty,” Apao said.

The 1,210 rubberized coagulating tubs and an aging tank were part of the P447,700 released by the the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through its Shared Service Facilities (SSF) program.

In a report, DTI revealed that the PPRPC received In-House Rubber Testing Laboratory facility worth P3 million, 1,210 units of rubberized plastic coagulating and aging tanks costing P447,700 for Ipil LGU, 12 units of weighing scales worth P106,560 for Naga LGU; concrete coagulating and aging tank with one unit of weighing scales for rubber quality improvement worth P728,963 for TARBEMCO, and an abaca drying shed project costing to P615,000 for Arbemco.

“We’re hoping to replicate the project next year should the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approve the project proposal from DTI for 2017 SSF funding,” Dr. Sitti Amina Jain, DTI regional director said.

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