Jun Ledesma Is What Happens When Journalists Are Driven Only, While They Lack Data!

I was shocked to read "Don't Starve Our Farmers," Jun Ledesma's explosion[1]against the head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, William Dar/Manong Willie, that appeared 10 September 2019 on the webpage of Philippine News Agency, PNA, a newswire service of the government. So, this is PH government criticizing itself nastily and in public! 

Thanks to Mr Ledesma, I had to search, and I found the above Wikipedia journalistic paradigm[2]. He failed in Stage 1: Gather Data, so he could not proceed properly to Stage 2: Filter Data ... etcetera. What happened was Mr Ledesma's entire story is 100% based on Zero Data.

Mr Ledesma's first paragraph is all we need to appreciate, or deprecate, his "Dear Sec William Dar, Sir:"

You do not solve the problem of rice farmers by asking the local government units to buy their palay (unmilled rice). Neither will you be able to solve their plight by extending them palliative monetary dole-outs. You should not pass the buck to the LGUs. That is not their mandate. It is your office fiat. By passing the responsibility to the LGUs, it is obvious that you do not know the problem that beset our farmers and your office is bereft of solutions on how to address their plight. By giving dole-outs you are encouraging mendicancy.

Wow! Blasting all those 96 words, Mr Ledesma is acting like the 4th Magi from the South who comes bearing the gift of Incense. My measured response:

Jun Ledesma, you have not been up to data!

Mr Ledesma has neither been reading the papers nor browsing the Internet. I a science journalist by course and by choice, am unhappy to be writing this lecture of mine, but I love my country more than Jun Ledesma!

I have been immersed in the "New Thinking for Agriculture" presented by Secretary of Agriculture Manong Willie 5 months ago yet[3]; so I can see immediately none of Mr Ledesma's claims is truthful.

Manong Willie's "New Thinking for Agriculture" is not palliative, not passing the buck, not"bereft of solutions" – it is All Solutions. Except that those solutions are to be carried out by the whole country, including community journalists like Mr Ledesma – who must be paying attention beyond the confines of Mindanao.

Mr Ledesma, here are what Manong Willie calls "The Eight Paradigms" that must be realized into the new PH Agriculture:

(1)  Modernization of agriculture;

(2)  Industrialization of agriculture;

(3)  Promotion of exports;

(4)  Farm consolidation;

(5)  Infrastructure development;

(6)  Higher budget and investments for agriculture;

(7)  Legislative support;

(8)  Roadmap development.

And yes, the "New Thinking for Agriculture" could make good use of journalists like you if you change your thinking from negative to positive, from pessimism to optimism. Don't tell me, Mr Ledesma, that you are the second character in my favorite Oscar Wilde's verse:

Between the optimist and the pessimist,
the difference is droll.
The optimist sees the doughnut,
the pessimist the hole!

And I? I am The Eternal Optimist!@517

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[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/opinion/pieces/228--dont-starve-our-farmers

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data-driven_journalism

[3]https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/07/04/business/agribusiness/the-new-thinking-for-agriculture-4/578808/