LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government is closely working with the municipal government of Guagua, Pampanga for the provision of an adequate space where cutflower and vegetable farmers from the municipality can sell their produce in Pampanga and other nearby areas.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda, together with some members of the municipal council, travelled to Guagua, Pampanga over the weekend to make representations with their counterparts to look for an alternative area where some 20 cutflower and vegetable farmers from the municipality could continue selling their produce.
He claimed that Guagua municipal officials identified a 1.3 hectare area that could be temporarily be used by the group of cutflower and vegetable farmers from the municipality as vending area for their produce while awaiting the development by the Guagua municipal government of an area that could be used as the permanent site for vendors.
Mayor Salda stated that it is unfortunate that the previous identified vending site of the La Trinidad cutflower and vegetable vendors had already been taken over by private individuals who allegedly won the bid to manage the facility, thus, the cutflower and vegetable farmers from the municipality doing business in the said area were eventually eased out and who then sought assistance to locate a temporary vending site.
Salda expressed his gratitude to Guagua Mayor Dante Flores for warmly welcoming the delegation from the municipality and coordinating with the concerned stakeholders that resulted to the identification of the temporary vending site for the displaced cutflower and vegetable vendors for them to be able to continue pursuing their business activities in the place.
According to him, the municipal government is always ready to extend to different sectors inside and outside the municipality the needed assistance for individuals that trace their roots in the locality to pursue their economic activities in other places.
The mayor explained that the cutflower and vegetable growers from the different barangays of the municipality doing business in outside the town are helping aggressively promote locally produced flowers and vegetables from the different farms and this helps inform and educate people on where the cutflowers and vegetables are actually produced.
He emphasized it is important for concerned local officials to address the issues and concerns affecting traders from the municipality doing business in other localities with the local authorities in the host local government units.
La Trinidad hosts the municipal government-operated vegetable trading post, the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) and other private vegetable trading centers where the highland vegetables being sold in the different parts of the country are purchased by traders.
By HENT
