WATCH: Isabela beauty pageant highlights agricultural issues

MANILA, Philippines — Stop burdening the society; start burdening the system.

This is one of the notable messages heard during the question and answer portion of Isabela's beauty pageant held last January 25 as part of the province's celebration of the Bambanti or scarecrow festival.

Agriculture was one of the focused topics in the Q and A segment and one of Isabela's beauty queens stole the show.

2011 Miss Universe third runner-up Shamcey Supsup-Lee asked the municipality of Ramon's candidate, Johanna Trisha Cinco, how she can encourage young people to choose a career in agriculture as the number of farmers in the Philippines is decreasing because of youth's lack of interest in the profession.

"I think it's time for us to stop burdening the society to go to jobs that don't benefit them. Instead, we should burden the system to create a more sustainable position for farmers and make farming a good job for the people. And once we do that, once the government does its job, that's when millennials will choose to be farmers because by then, it's a profession that will feed their family and it's a profession that will give them a sustainable life," Cinco answered.

Cinco, who landed on the Top 3 and was crowned Queen Isabela Culture and the Arts, made noise on Twitter after the pageant because of her answer.

But she was not the only beauty queen who highlighted agriculture that night. The winner of Queen Isabela 2023, Catherine Joy Legaspi of the municipality of San Manuel, also spoke on this topic.

She was asked why the Philippines is still struggling in having a sustained, developed, and advanced agricultural economy when it was once dubbed as an agricultural country before being classified as a thriving industrial nation.

Legaspi said, "For me, it is because we don't patronize our own first. We used to patronize the others' products before ours and this is a reminder for everyone that it is not too late to patronize our own and to contribute on the growth of our own economy. We must put our country first because our country's tomorrow depends on how we shape it today."

The focus on agriculture during the event fits Isabela's profile as it is one of the top producers of various crops in the country.

Isabela, the second largest province in the archipelago in terms of land area, is home to the City of Ilagan, which is the Corn Capital of the Philippines, and to San Mateo, which is hailed as the Munggo Capital of the country. 

According to 2023 Bambanti Festival Director General and Vice Gov. Faustino "Bojie" Dy III, the province is also a top producer of rice and is currently having a rice surplus.

Focus on agriculture amid food shortage

The emphasis on agriculture also comes amid the global food crisis which has not spared the Philippines as the nation has experienced shortages in sugar, onion, garlic, and eggs, among others, in the past few months.

Amid all this, the country still doesn't have an expert heading the Department of Agriculture. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is still the one leading the agency despite having been urged by critics to leave the post.

Marcos explained earlier that the reason he hasn't appointed an agriculture chief yet is because there are things that he could do hastily because he's president.

"The president they cannot say no to. And 'pag hindi nila ginawa 'yung utos ko, puwede kong sitahin," he said in a recent interview with television news anchors. — Video from Wazzup.PH

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