Among Ed preaches farm self-sufficiency

FR. EDDIE “Among Ed” Panlilio, the former governor of Pampanga province, has taken to farming that draws organic food growers, health buffs and vacationers who relish rural living. TONETTE OREJAS/INQUIRER Central Luzon

BACOLOR, Pampanga—Fr. Eddie Panlilio has not stopped treading new grounds.

In this town in Pampanga province that Mt. Pinatubo’s volcanic sediments had buried many times over since 1991, Panlilio, 60, is now a farmer in a 2.5-hectare farm where people go to learn growing crops and livestock to sustain their families.

This endeavor is his latest in 27 years after organizing in 1987 a Grameen Bank-like

microfinancing institution, heading the Archdiocese of San Fernando’s Social Action Center that led emergency and rehabilitation programs with victims of the Mt. Pinatubo disaster in the 1990s, and serving as governor of Pampanga province from 2007 to 2010.

Panlilio has paid dearly for the rare crossover from church to politics, an answer to an appeal of the Kapampangan fighting corruption and illegal gambling. He has been suspended from performing Roman Catholic rites and faces dismissal from the priesthood.

With no parish or flock to assist, Panlilio, known here as “Among Ed,” began the Eden Farm in Sitio Gugu in Barangay (village) Cabalantian here in September last year.

For this family-owned land where he could carry out his causes for the environment and health, the first tasks the priest did were to remove the weeds and plant mango trees.

It should have been a larger farm had not the Gugu Creek beside it turned into a river that claimed nearby lands.

Panlilio inherited the land from Edmundo Panlilio and his siblings, the first cousins of his father, Gervacio.

On it, he has planted calamansi, tamarind and papaya. Lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes are grown hydroponics-style, some of these sold to restaurants. He also grows herbs like basil and mint.

“I’m happy planting,” Panlilio told the INQUIRER.

Last week, Romy Manese, who works in an information technology (IT) firm, came to learn growing lettuce on water.

Panlilio and his assistant, Emmanuel, spent time sharing techniques with Manese.

Manure from goat, carabao, sheep, pig, chicken and duck enrich the soil as fertilizer.

By this time, he and the farm hands are preparing a patch to grow napier grass for animal and fish feed.

Panlilio, who ran and lost in the gubernatorial elections in 2010 and 2013, also devotes time for the Kaya Natin, a movement that he founded with the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and former Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca to promote good governance and good citizenship.

The Talete ning Panyulung Kapampangan Foundation Inc. (TPKI), a microfinancing institution Panlilio founded and which recently got him back as chair and president, is using Eden Farm for its agroforestry program in upland and lowland communities as well as its hog-raising project for households.

East West Seed Philippines has joined in to start a 500-square meter plot in Eden Farm to show farmers how to grow onions and various vegetables on lahar-covered lands.

“We still have a lot of sulfur [in the soil] so that crops don’t grow well,” Panlilio said.

Learning place

The Department of Agriculture has taken notice, lending the farm a shredder and water pump.

Volunteers come to plant lettuce seeds on trays. Others come to just rest and eat in the large native hut he put up.

Panlilio has also adopted a family of six left homeless by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in

Cebu province last year.

Eden Farm, he said, has become a “learning place to convince farmers, communities and local governments to plant food.”

Several farmers in Pampanga have gravitated toward Panlilio, creating a sort of movement for organically grown food.

“Farming can be an economic enterprise, a family project to ensure regular food on the table, or done just out of fun or for health,” he said.