Bukidnon Governor Jose Zubiri has offered a vast vegetable production area in Barangay Miarayon in Talakag, Bukidnon as a proposed resettlement site for beneficiaries of the “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program, an official said.
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 is part of a declared military reservation.
“Residents will be introduced to high value vegetable production with the help of experts from the Cordillera.”
“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,” Piñol 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 Bukidnon towns, including Wao in 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.
“We were briefed on the potentials of the area for food production with the support of government.”
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 as we introduced the ‘Balik Probinsya’ program which is being pushed by Senator Bong Go and supported by President Rodrigo Duterte,” Piñol 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. Others identified as resettlement areas are in Lanao del Norte and Zamboanga del Norte.
“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,” he concluded.