LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Senator Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla,Jr. urged the public to patronize the famous strawberry picking in the municipality to help in advancing the strawberry production and enhance the local tourism industry.
Revilla, who was accompanied by Gov. Melchor Diclas and Mayor Romeo K. Salda, admitted that it was his first time to participate in the famous strawberry picking in the municipality and it was fulfilling and enjoyable for someone like him that is why people visiting the municipality should include in their itinerary strawberry picking to aggressively promote one of the town’s major tourist attraction.
He claimed that the strawberries produced in the municipality are delicious that is why tourists should not hesitate to pick strawberries in the farms that will be designated for the said activity once in the locality for a visit or whatever transactions with the various government and private offices.
Earlier, the senator also distributed P4 million worth of Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) to some 2,000 identified beneficiaries during simple distribution rites held at the Benguet Sports Center (BSC) gymnasium. Gov. Diclas and Mayor Salda accompanied Senator Revilla in the distribution of the said assistance to the recipients who were from the province’s marginalized and vulnerable sectors.
Revilla assured the province’s local officials that he will help in promoting strawberry picking to entice more foreign and domestic tourists to visit the municipality and help in boosting the local tourism industry for it to recover from the serious negative impact that was inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years that caused the local economy to slow down.
La Trinidad has over 3.9 hectares of strawberry production area with an estimated produce of 2 kilos of strawberry per square meter.
For his part, Mayor Salda expressed his gratitude to Senator Revilla for helping promote the town’s strawberry industry that will surely help in spurring the sustainable growth of the local tourism industry in generating more employment opportunities, economic activities and sources of livelihood of the people.
He claimed t6hat the senator’s influence being an actor-politician will definitely serve as an added boost in enticing more foreign and domestic visitors to patronize strawberry picking as one of their priority activities when spending their well-deserved break in the capital town which is also the major strawberry producer north of Metro Manila.
The local chief executive emphasized that the town’s annual strawberry produce is still sufficient in providing the supply of strawberries in the various markets although there are also other areas in the province that are producing strawberries as it will contribute in stabilizing the prevailing prices of the said fruit for the benefit of the entrepreneurs and tourists who patronize the same.
The local government continues to explore ways to facilitate the availability of strawberry planting materials for the farmers so that they will be able to sustain the production of strawberries considering that the planting materials for one of the varieties has become stagnant in terms of productivity among others. By Dexter A. See
