By Brian Jules Campued
A total of 27,000 community gardens have been established under the “Gulayan sa Barangay” Program of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) under the Marcos administration.
DILG Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Felicito Valmocina said on Saturday that the program was “introduced immediately” in 17 regions and around 42,000 villages.
“Before President Marcos came to power, there were about 2,000 community gardens, and now we have 27,000 of them all over the country,” Valmocina added.
He attributed the increase in the number of community gardens to the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. under his “Bagong Pilipinas” campaign to repurpose vacant land into vegetable gardens, in a bid to address food security problems.
Valmocina also lauded Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos, Jr. for his initiative in implementing the program.
He added that the DILG has already issued Memorandum Circular No. 2023-001 which implemented the Halina’t MAgtanim ng Prutas At Gulay (HAPAG) sa Barangay program and
ordered barangays to use their development funds to purchase seeds, seedlings, fruit-bearing trees, mangrove wildlings, as well as garden materials for their respective community gardens.
The Sangguniang Kabataan may also allocate at least P20,000 to create a 40-square meter fish pond, according to Valmocina.
Meanwhile, the DILG undersecretary cited the success of a 7,000-square meter community garden in Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City.
“People are realizing that the programs President Marcos wants implemented is the solution to food security,” he remarked. – avds
