Salug, Zamboanga del Norte "The Musical Town"

04/05/2026

The Local Government Unit of Salug is now looking for talented dancers to represent the municipality in the Street Dance Competition for Saulog 2026, in celebration of the Founding Anniversary of the Province of Zamboanga del Norte to be held in Dipolog City.

Dancers must be born and raised in the Municipality of Salug and must be at least a high school or college student. Interested dancers are encouraged to showcase their talent, creativity, and pride in representing our municipality.

If you are interested, please visit the Municipal Tourism Office of Salug, located in front of the Municipal Gymnasium. For further inquiries and clarification, kindly look for Mr. Joey Dagomo Balud or Ms. Khloe Panangitan.

03/05/2026

21/04/2026

‼️‼️MUST READ‼️‼️

CALL FOR URGENT ACTION AND PROTECTION OF THE 15KM MUNICIPAL WATERS! ‼️⚠️

As of April 19, 2026, through Karagatan Patrol VIIRS-Boat Detection, we can clearly see the red dots (commercial fishing vessels) inside the municipal waters, and note that not all of these commercial fishing vessels are detected.
https://www.karagatanpatrol.org/

Human Cost: 2.5 million fisherfolk and their families are suffering, with almost 15% (353,190) living below the poverty line and 93,030 families deemed “food-poor.”

A new study released by the international marine protection organization Oceana reveals that the Philippines is losing 45 million kilograms of fish catch every year, stressing that unless the Marcos government takes serious, urgent action to implement the Fisheries Code and hold officials accountable, the nation’s fisheries face imminent collapse. The report indicates that while commercial fishing yields are rising, small-scale catches are dwindling, forcing local fisherfolk into a desperate competition with large vessels to survive. But what does survival look like???

Why is Commercial Encroachment Harmful?
When commercial vessels enter this 15-km zone, it triggers a "cascading" failure of the marine ecosystem.
1. Physical Destruction of Coral Reefs: Coral reefs are often called the "backbone of fisheries." Commercial vessels often use heavier, more efficient gear (such as large trawl nets or purse seines). If these snag on a reef, they can level centuries of coral growth in minutes, turning a complex structural habitat into rubble.
2. Disruption of Nutrient Cycling: The removal of fish biomass reduces the amount of essential nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) recycled back into the reef via fish excretion.
3. Rapid Stock Collapse: Commercial vessels have the capacity to "wipe out" entire schools of fish in a single haul. Scientific monitoring by platforms like Karagatan Patrol has shown that intrusion into municipal waters stresses coastal stocks to the point of collapse, as the fish are caught before they have a chance to reproduce.

Check and access the report here:
https://ph.oceana.org/press-releases/new-report-philippine-fisheries-in-freefall-45-million-kilos-of-fish-lost-annually/

21/04/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14dt6cb9mdo/

CALL FOR URGENT ACTION AND PROTECTION OF THE 15KM MUNICIPAL WATERS! ‼️⚠️

As of April 19, 2026, through Karagatan Patrol VIIRS-Boat Detection, we can clearly see the red dots (commercial fishing vessels) inside the municipal waters, and note that not all of these commercial fishing vessels are detected.
https://www.karagatanpatrol.org/

Human Cost: 2.5 million fisherfolk and their families are suffering, with almost 15% (353,190) living below the poverty line and 93,030 families deemed “food-poor.”

A new study released by the international marine protection organization Oceana reveals that the Philippines is losing 45 million kilograms of fish catch every year, stressing that unless the Marcos government takes serious, urgent action to implement the Fisheries Code and hold officials accountable, the nation’s fisheries face imminent collapse. The report indicates that while commercial fishing yields are rising, small-scale catches are dwindling, forcing local fisherfolk into a desperate competition with large vessels to survive. But what does survival look like???

Why is Commercial Encroachment Harmful?
When commercial vessels enter this 15-km zone, it triggers a "cascading" failure of the marine ecosystem.
1. Physical Destruction of Coral Reefs: Coral reefs are often called the "backbone of fisheries." Commercial vessels often use heavier, more efficient gear (such as large trawl nets or purse seines). If these snag on a reef, they can level centuries of coral growth in minutes, turning a complex structural habitat into rubble.
2. Disruption of Nutrient Cycling: The removal of fish biomass reduces the amount of essential nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) recycled back into the reef via fish excretion.
3. Rapid Stock Collapse: Commercial vessels have the capacity to "wipe out" entire schools of fish in a single haul. Scientific monitoring by platforms like Karagatan Patrol has shown that intrusion into municipal waters stresses coastal stocks to the point of collapse, as the fish are caught before they have a chance to reproduce.

Check and access the report here:
https://ph.oceana.org/press-releases/new-report-philippine-fisheries-in-freefall-45-million-kilos-of-fish-lost-annually/

04/04/2026

FOOD SAFETY AND SECURITY PLAN

Strategic Food Repositioning Using A National Supply & Demand Map!

As a country of over 7,000 islands, the main issue of food availability and affordability in the Philippines is not the lack of supply but poor “repositioning” of agricultural goods.

“Tamban” or Sardines Fish sold for P200 in the big cities, sells for less than P50 in many coastal towns of Zamboanga del Norte.

In Nueva Vizcaya, Tomatoes sell for P10 per kilo and the excess are thrown away to rot by farmers as reported by the media today.

But Sardines factories in Zamboanga City import Tomato paste from China.

Onion produced by farmers in Mindoro bought by traders for as low as P12 during peak harvest but sold for up to P700 off-season.

I wrote about the Food Repositioning Strategy in the book “Feeding Millions: The Duterte Food Security Strategy” published in 2015.

When President Rodrigo Duterte appointed me as Agriculture Secretary, I asked the help of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) in conducting the “National Food Consumption Quantification Study.”

The NFCQS started by the UN-FAO in 2017 and completed in 2019 aimed at providing data for the following concerns:

1. What kind of food do Filipinos prefer to eat?;
2. What is the consumption level of these types of food?;
3. Where and how could these types of food be produced in huge volumes?;
4. How long could the Philippines’ land and water resources sustain the production?

While the study was being conducted, the Department of Agriculture initiated a National Food Security Summit which invited farmers groups and local government executives to a 2-day workshop to present the products which could be sourced from their areas and the DA support needed to boost the production.

There were four clusters: Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and the participants included fishermen from as far as Sitangkay, Tawitawi.

The goal was to craft a National Food Demand and Supply Map which would be digitalized to obtain a real-time situation of food availability and repositioning.

Unfortunately, following my public clash with the Economic Managers over the issue of unimpeded Rice Importation under the Rice Tariffication Law, I resigned in June 2019 and moved to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).

As is the usual ending of stories of innovations in governance, the program was shelved and forgotten when I left the DA.

I had long proposed the reactivation of the Food Terminal Inc., a government corporation under the National Food Authority, to assume the role of a “Food Repositioning” Agency.

The current DA leadership is reportedly moving towards the direction of implementing a Food Supply Repositioning through the activation of the FTI.

This is the way to.go to stabilize food supply and prices.

!


(This is an edited and updated version of an article I wrote 4 years ago.)

30/03/2026

30/03/2026