Quezon execs ask gov’t to let LGUs handle ‘cocolisap’ funds

LUCENA CITY—Quezon officials have asked the national government to allow local government units (LGUs) to handle some of the funds allotted to combat the spread of coconut scale insect (CSI), or “cocolisap,” in some parts of Quezon province.

Provincial agriculturist Roberto Gajo said he requested the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) here to provide the fund directly to LGUs with low levels of infestation and those in the boundaries of neighboring provinces that he said were high-risk areas. “It would be practical [to give it to LGUs],”  Gajo said  on Thursday.

A Quezon town mayor said local officials had also suggested the funding scheme to Francis Pangilinan, presidential assistant on food security and agricultural modernization, and national PCA officials in a meeting here last month. “But they just took note of our proposal,” said the mayor who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak for the rest of the mayors.

Erlene Manohar, officer in charge of the  PCA in Southern Tagalog, welcomed Gajo’s suggestion but said only top PCA officials could decide on the matter.

She advised Gajo to address the top officials of the agency, since it is the PCA central office that hires service providers to handle various antipest works, including the handling of pesticides.

Manohar said service providers also hire local workers in infested areas.

Gajo said his office records showed that of nearly 500,000 coconut trees infested by CSI, only 28,000 had been injected with chemical pesticides.

Claro Talaga, former provincial board member and coconut protection advocate, said farmers had been pooling resources and manpower to fight CSI. Talaga has been offering his self-produced wood-bamboo-coconut husk vinegar to farmers whose plantations are threatened by CSI.

He said he had been giving the concoction to farmers for free and had demonstrated how to apply it. He said his concoction had been proven effective against CSI.

Technicians from the Department of Agriculture in Naic town, Cavite province, helped mass produce the formula after tests showed that it worked, according to Talaga. Talaga said coconut farmers who want to avail themselves of his concoction could contact him through his mobile phone number 09178903561.