November 11, 2016 , 05:37pm

Duterte’s agri secretary bats for investments from Pinoy Canadians

Sec. Emmanuel F. Piñol
PHOTOS: HG

By Veronica Silva Cusi

A top cabinet official of the four-month-old Duterte presidency in the Philippines recently urged Filipino-Canadians to invest in the Philippines as he painted a picture of a safe and corrupt-free Philippines.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol was in Toronto recently and took the opportunity to meet with Filipino-Canadians and Canadian business people in the Greater Toronto Area.

In a town hall meeting at Canada Christian College in East York, Toronto last Oct. 29, Piñol told an audience of a few hundreds the “real story” about the run-up to President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s presidency and his controversial four months in office so far.

Piñol said the “real story” was that Duterte was originally hesitant to run for the presidency, and this fact was not any form of drama to win over supporters. Piñol said he and his colleagues first convinced Duterte to go around the country to campaign for federalism and test the response of the people. After receiving support from huge crowds wherever he spoke, Duterte still did not appear to register his candidacy on deadline day. Piñol’s group had someone register for candidacy and later on substituted Duterte’s name to make him a candidate. And the rest is history.

In his 42-minute talk occasionally interrupted by applause, Piñol painted a picture of a much-loved president who has successfully waged a war against illegal drugs and corruption.

Piñol with the crowd at Canada Christian College

Using anecdotes and figures, Piñol said Filipinos now feel safe in many places in the Philippines, thanks to Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs. Piñol said this campaign has already resulted “in the killing of an estimated 3,000 drug pushers who fought government troops” and the surrender of almost a million “drug pushers and addicts.”

“The campaign does not spare anybody,” Piñol said, as he enumerated cases of top-level officials caught or killed in this campaign.

“Crime rate has plummeted to an old-time low, and children could now go out in the streets without fear of getting mugged,” he added.

After clarifying Duterte’s alleged controversial remarks against U.S. President Barrack Obama and clarifying Philippine foreign policy, Piñol urged Filipino-Canadians to visit the Philippines to determine where they can invest their hard-earned money.

Piñol said the Duterte administration is coming up with a program to encourage overseas Filipino workers to consider investing in the Philippines by setting up their own companies. For example, Filipino-Canadians can invest in opportunities under the agriculture portfolio, such as rice, white shrimp or banana production.

He cited the case of banana production for export to Japan. He said he recently signed a marketing agreement with a Japanese company that will buy 20 million boxes of Cavendish bananas annually from the Philippines. With this agreement, Piñol said there is a need to develop 7,000 hectares of new banana plantations that will benefit 14,000 people directly and 10,000 more indirectly.

“Take a look at your country once again, and I’m sure when you go home to the Philippines, you can feel the difference,” Piñol said.

Pinoy-Canadian bilaterals on the side:

Corie Laraya-Coutts, chair of the Pinoy in Canada Patriotic Movement (PCPM), told The Philippine Reporter that Piñol ’s visit in Toronto was privately organized by PCPM with herself and husband, businessman Rod Coutts, as hosts.

PCPM is formerly the Duterte-Cayetano Movement for Real Change and Progress for Filipinos.

From left: Philippine Ambassador to Canada Petronila Garcia; Consul General Rosalita Prospero and Connie Sorio of KAIROS.

But while on a personal visit, Piñol nonetheless took the opportunity to talk business, as he met with some Canadian and Pinoy-Canadian business people. This was disclosed by Piñol and his hosts during the town hall meeting and confirmed by other sources.

Piñol met with the Philippine Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a group of business people led by Canadian George A. Cohon, who opened the first McDonald’s franchise in London, Ontario in 1968.

In his Facebook post, Piñol said Cohon joined other Canadian business people in a Philippines-Canada Agriculture and Trade Forum on Oct. 29 organized by PCCT.

In the forum, Philippine Embassy officials also got the opportunity to talk about their annual Winter Escapade tour where Canadians are invited to visit the Philippines to escape Canada’s harsh winter.

Piñol said the group of Canadian business people he met expressed interest in the Winter Escapade but with one request — to have an audience with Duterte.

At the town hall meeting, Piñol also said a team from the Philippines will visit Canada to inspect Canada’s meat processing facilities. He said the inspection is part of the sanitary requirements before Canadians can export meat to the Philippines.

In keeping with the Duterte administration’s independent foreign policy, Piñol said the Philippine team will visit Canada without financial support from Canada.

“Before, these inspectors would come to Canada with half of their expenses shouldered by the government of Canada. Now, the Philippine government will shoulder everything,“ Piñol said. “We will not ask the government of Canada to spend for our people who will be determining whether you are qualified to export to our country or not. We are not rich, but we are people with dignity now.”

Navcast

While in the GTA, Piñol signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mississauga-based Navcast, Inc. for a study of the Philippines’s illegal fishing areas with the help of technology and expertise of Navcast.

Rod Coutts, chair of Navcast, told The Philippine Reporter that the MoU signed between Navcast president John Myers and Piñol will study how the Philippines can monitor fishermen to stop illegal fishing.

“They (the Philippines) want a study done to see what can be done, technologically, to assist them in preventing illegal fishing,” said Coutts, an electrical engineer alumnus of the University of Waterloo.

Coutts said a team from Navcast, a software company, could initially visit the Philippines to study how to work out the details of the MoU.
He said the MoU represents Navcast’s first venture in the Asia Pacific region, but it has worked with the U.S. on its fisheries management system.

Coutts said Navcast provides software interface to help boats and airplanes navigate using satellite maps.