LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Senator Imee Marcos committed to work out with the agriculture department the establishment of food terminals in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other neighboring regions that will serve as areas where locally produced vegetables could be sold.
In her message during the celebration of the 122nd founding anniversary of Benguet and Adivay festival which was read by board member Marie Rose T. Fongwan-Kepes, the senator pointed out that the resumption of operation of the food terminals will help in providing additional venues where quality and cheap vegetables from Benguet and the Cordillera will be sold at affordable prices.
She claimed that she will convince her younger brother, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. who is now serving as the Agriculture Secretary, to ensure the operation of the said food terminals in strategic areas around Metro Manila to expand the areas where highland vegetables will be made available to the people.
Last April, Senator Marcos, through the enhanced Kadiwa program, donated several trucks to various local governments mostly in Benguet to transport for free the vegetables from the province to the different markets so that the same will be sold at affordable prices and to ensure the sustainable supply of highland vegetables.
Further, the lawmaker also allocated funds from the government’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) to extend assistance to the victims of calamities that struck the province over the past several months.
She encouraged the people and officialdom of the province to sustain the efforts to preserve the rich culture, history and heritage of Benguet so that the same may be passed on to the future generations of inhabitants.
Senator Marcos assured the Benguet people that she will continue to lobby with the agriculture department the allocation of more funds to help in improving the current state of vegetable production in the province so that the major source of income of the people will be enhanced amidst the prevailing challenge of the unabated smuggling of imported agricultural crops from China.
According to her, Adivay or coming together is what people need at this time to contribute in the ongoing efforts of both the government and the private sectors to recover from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to agriculture which is the major source of livelihood of the people from the different parts of the province.
She rallied the Igorots and Ilocanos to strengthen the camaraderie to be able to advance the appropriate programs, projects, activities and advocacies that will contribute in enhancing the state of the province’s agriculture sector so that it will be able to propel the local economy and bring back its vibrance to pre-pandemic levels for the benefit of the greater majority of the populace.
Benguet remains to be the source of over 80 percent of the supply of semi-temperate vegetables being sold in the different markets around the country over the past several decades.
For his part, Rep. Eric Yap disclosed that the congressional inquiry on the smuggling of vegetables is expected to start anytime after the concerned House committee shall have disposed the ongoing investigation on the problem of tobacco farmers and the tobacco industry.
He asserted that he wants that smugglers should be penalized with life imprisonment to prevent them from repeating the same offense that impact on the country’s agriculture sector.
Congressman Yap claimed that there are many smugglers that had been arrested but they are still able to pursue their illegal activities, thus, the need for the government, through appropriate laws, to impose stiffer penalties against them to send a clear message that the efforts to curb the proliferation of smuggling is for real.
Earlier, Yap filed a resolution seeking for a congressional inquiry on the unabated smuggling of agricultural crops that have a negative impact on locally produced vegetables because prices of locally grown vegetables usually dip when smuggled vegetables flood the markets in various parts of the country.