Champion cock breeder sees promise in farming

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — He’s known as the Manny Pacquiao of cockfighting. And why not? No less than the pound-for-pound king of boxing, the Pambansang Kamao, has chosen him as the breeder of the feathered gladiators he use in his nocturnal hobby. Yet the association with the Pacman has never changed Jesry Palmares. He remains low key. In fact, this unassuming celebrity of sorts would rather be known more as a farmer than a champion breeder.

A mayor for three terms in his home city of Passi, a landlocked area of rolling hills on the outskirts of Iloilo province, Palmares would rather go to his game farm and relax, watching over his roosters while savoring the refreshing juice of newly picked coconuts.

“This is my therapy,” he says. “I go here and instantly I am recharged.”

Palmares sees farming not only for relaxation but for its enormous economic potential, especially for the people of his city.

“Our number one asset is our land and the second is our people. If we can only make the most of these gifts that God has given us, then we can be progressive,” he said.

Public service runs in Palmares’s veins. His father was mayor when Jesry was growing up, and he himself entered the political world at a very young age of 20 as vice mayor before becoming mayor the following elections. He ran unopposed for three terms, which was proof of the Passi folk’s trust in him.

Under his watch, Passi turned from a sleepy municipality into a thriving city. It became known in Central Visayas for its model waste management system and later on for its world-class abattoir of slaughterhouse, the only one in the whole of Visayas to be given a Double A rating.

But even after Palmares finished his three terms, he never stopped helping his constituents. As director of the Philippine National Oil Company Alternative Fuels Corporation, he brought to Passi the idea of growing fuel from the land. He convinced farmers to plant more than a thousand hectares of cogon land with jatropha whose seed yields precious biodiesel. The farmers get paid for the seedlings they plant and for maintaining the field and they have an assured income when PNOC begins buying their yield by the middle of this year.

Palmares is also pushing for livestock raising for his people. One area he is seriously working into is contract growing for poultry and cattle, which Passi folk can easily do given the available farms and grazing fields. This will eventually make use of the Passi slaughterhouse.

“Passi can serve as a source of raw materials for all the Ilonggo restaurants who serve chicken and other meat delicacies,” he said. “Being landlocked, we cannot offer seafood. But we can offer meat,” he said.

Because of what he is doing for Passi, it was only natural to expect the people to strongly urge Palmares to return as mayor. He would not have acceded had not for the fact that the incumbent mayor, who was number one councilor during Palmares’s time, called him to announce that he would be giving way if Palmares himself would run.

“I guess the clamor was too strong for me to resist,” he said. “I am humbled by the gesture of our present mayor. It was a completely selfless act. In fairness to him, he has done so much for the city and continuing what he has started will be my thrust.”

You would not see any Palmares streamer or billboard in Passi City, yet the people would readily address Palmares as their “mayor” whenever they see his car.

Palmares was in Manila last week to take care of another side of his life. As of this writing, his roosters continue their winning ways going into the penultimate round of the World Slashers Cup, the Olympics of cockfighting, at the Araneta Coliseum.

Yet unlike most politicians who go to cockfights, Palmares never gambles.

“I don’t usually bet,” he says. “When I do, which is rarely, I only bet P500 and I do it just for fun.”