Stories of Quirino (five)

I was freaking out about not having snacks ready for the guests, well, blaming myself because I did not anticipate that the person responsible for it did not do his part completely (he had a cow slaughtered so..). One of the women, I assumed to be a member of the irrigators' association, heard me. Cupcakes and drinks appeared. It was almost lunch. I probably swallowed the cupcake at one time. I was famished. 

The program started, finally, with messages from the representatives of all organizations involved in the project implementation. Of course the one from the municipio apologized over and over for needing to be fetched, etc. My favorite message among them was from the National Irrigation Administration, Engr. Dominador Mangaoang, who not only briefed the audience about the irrigation project but with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program as well. Many among us from DAR wanted to slap our own faces in shame: he said everything that needed to be said about agrarian reform, and why the irrigation project was implemented in the first place. He was so good at it that I imagined he actually worked with DAR. 

When it was the turn of our USEC Rose to speak, she emphasized the need for the recipients in the community and the Local Government Unit, to value projects of this magnitude as not all are given the opportunity to have them and call them their own. She was not upset as she was earlier in the morning anymore, but I sensed she was hurt by the seeming indifference of the recipients and the LGU in having 24-million-peso project. I can understand that feeling. There are areas where I have been, and the farmers were joyous over a simple project handed to them, like a bridge that cost way below 28 million pesos. 

Then it was time to sign the acceptance documents, those which say that the recipients are embracing the project as their own, that they are satisfied with how it was implemented by the NIA. The leader of the irrigators' association stared at the documents. Too long. And made no gesture to hold a pen and sign them. I knew there was something coming. 

To be continued.