Beauty & Bounty of Mindanao!
COCONUT, CASSAVA COMPANY
GIVES HOPE IN LANAO DEL SUR
For over 90 years now, a company started by an American teacher, Ralph Edmund Spencer, and his wife has provided livelihood and hope for the poverty-srricken and troubled land of Lanao del Sur.
Spencer, who came on board USS Thomas which brought the first batch of American teachers to the Philippines in 1901, established the Matling Coconut Plantations in 1929 in Barangay Matalin, Malabang, Lanao del Sur.
Why Spencer chose Malabang as his retirement place is not known but he spent the rest of his life in the isolated area bequeathing what was later called the Matling Industrial and Commercial Corporation to his Filipino friend, Alex Mancilla.
Matling started out as a Coconut Plantation but the company later ventured into cassava producing one of the best Cassava starch in the country.
The company survived all the troubles of the '70s, the All-Out War of 2000 and the recent Marawi Siege which affected the lives of the people of the province.
Today, as the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) addresses the high incidence of poverty in Mindanao and Sulu, I decided to take another look at how Matling Corporation or MICC could help MinDA achieve its goals of improving people's lives, lowering poverty and sustaining the peace gains of the Duterte Administration.
With only 3,500 hectares planted to Cassava by both the corporation and the farmers around the area, MICC needs an additional 8,000 hectares to fill up the processing capacity of a new P400-M starch processing facility.
Last week, MICC officials led by Alex Mancilla's young daughter, Sally, an industrial engineer, met with officials of MinDA and the Development Bank of the Philppines to prepare a financial loan package to finance farmers who would like to plant cassava.
With an estimated annual income of P70,000 per hectare, many Maranao farmers are eager to participate in the program with areas stretching to as far as the heartland of the Maute Terror Group by the side of Lake Lanao.
MinDA, DBP and MICC officials are now working on the loan package which would provide about P240-M capitalization so farmers could plant Cassava in 8,000 hectares of additional area.
With 8,000-hectares of productive agricultural area, it is projected that at least 4,000 farming families will be lifted out of poverty.
DBP President Emmanuel Herbosa has also promised to look into my request for the establishment of a DBP branch to serve the farmers and MICC.
As of now, the nearest banks for the people of Malabang are in Pagadian City and Cotabato City and farmers are forced to encash their checks with relending companies who eat up a large part of the farmers' income.
After over 90 years of surviving on their own, MICC is finally seeing government going out of its way to assist a company which has given hope and livelihood to people of Lanao del Sur.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#WalkingAnExrraKilometer!
#HopeInTroubledTimes!
