Magsaysay awardee back as consultant

ACTING Gov. Agnes Magpale hired Ramon Magsaysay awardee Dr. Romulo Davide as one of her Capitol consultants.

In an interview last Tuesday, Magpale said she hired Davide on a P1 consultancy fee per year.

In wanting to pursue organic farming, Magpale said she tapped Davide in hopes of reviving his Farmer Scientist Program (FSTP).

The FSTP would team farmers with scientists who would teach about modern agriculture techniques.

Through this partnership, farmers managed to make at least P125,000 a year compared to nearly zero before the program took effect.

Davide pioneered it in his hometown of Argao, southern Cebu in 1994.

He is the uncle of Hilario Davide III, Liberal Party-Cebu (LP-Cebu) gubernatorial candidate.

Davide served as a P1-a-year consultant of suspended Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to oversee the program in the province for six years.

However, this changed after the 2010 elections, when his nephew Hilario “Junjun” Davide III, ran for governor against Garcia. His program was replaced by the Integrated Farming System Development Program (IFSDP).

In a speech before UP graduating students in Cebu, Dr. Davide vowed to dedicate the rest of his life in helping the farmers get rich and develop more technologies for them to use. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus