Last Friday, during the luncheon with resident ambassadors of 22 foreign countries, Governor Patrick Alain T. Azanza said, in discussing an imbalance in the abaca industry, that Catanduanes supplies at least 85 percent of the world’s abaca requirements in raw materials.
The statement, included in the press statement released on social media, was not entirely true.
The island’s share of the global abaca production never reached 85 percent, much less 50 percent.
Instead, it is the Philippines which supplies 85 percent of the world’s requirement for abaca fiber.
Statistics from the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) show that in 2023, three years after super typhoon Rolly flattened abaca plantations in southern Catanduanes, the province produced a total of 10,582.938 metric tons of abaca fiber.
This is roughly equivalent to 83.72 percent of the Bicol region’s output and just 27 percent of the country’s total production.
With super typhoon Pepito striking the island in late November 2024, our abaca farmers produced a little less fiber than usual, 10,377.688 metric tons, or 80 percent of the regional output and 27 percent of the country’s total abaca fiber production.
Then, super typhoon Uwan broke the usual four-to-five-year gap between super howlers, slashing through the northern towns again.
As a result, farmers who have yet to recover from Pepito’s damage were unable to produce their usual harvest.
Only 7,497.625 metric tons were recorded by PhilFIDA at trading establishments and at ports.
Catanduanes’ share of Bicol’s fiber production fell to 77 percent and slumped to 21.6 percent nationally.
Another super typhoon hitting the island by the last quarter of 2026 cannot be discounted and this brings with it the possibility that the island’s share of the national annual abaca fiber production could dip below 20 percent for the first time in recent history.
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This Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, governors have been invited by the president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines to Malacanang to attend the “Constructing Our Future: DepEd-Provinces MOA Signing for Nationwide Classroom Building Program” at the Heroes Hall in the presence of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
Gov. Patrick Alain T. Azanza will one of the provincial chief executives who will sign their respective agreements with DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara as the province has already qualified to implement the school building projects of the department based on the capability of the Provincial Engineering Office as far as availability of equipment, technical expertise and experience in infrastructure projects are concerned.
The decentralization of the school building construction is expected to address the DepEd’s backlog of 165,000 classrooms nationwide.
Under the plan, the funds will be downloaded directly to the LGUs – provincial, city or municipal – which will then conduct their own procurement process, manage biddings and implement the projects.
DepEd will provide standardized designs, technical frameworks, and oversight to ensure that all projects meet Minimum Performance Standards and Specifications, as well as audit and accountability rules.
The agreement sets safeguards to ensure transparency, proper use of public funds, and compliance with government auditing rules, with DepEd retaining authority to review plans, validate completed classrooms, and require corrective action when standards are not met.
DepEd has yet to release the details of the MOA, especially on how the projects will be divided or allocated between provincial and municipal LGUs.
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CONSULTING A LAWYER. Kosinsky happened to be leaving his attorney’s office when he ran into his old friend Wozniak, who asked him why he’d bothered to consult a lawyer,
“I need some advice,” Konsinsky explained.
“Waste of money,” maintained Wozniak. “His office was filled with fancy leather law books, right? Well, all you’d have to do is read them for yourself and you’d have the answer for free.”
“True,” acknowledged Kosinsky. “But he knows what page it’s on.”