BEHIND THE SCENES

Raising Tilapia
ALFRED P. DIZON

For some tourists, residents of Sagada are one of the luckiest people on earth for living in a rustic and scenic place away for all the hassle and buzzle of the world. But for the locals, they live like the rest of the people in this banana Republic in working for a living.

If they are not engaged in tourism-oriented activities or as government employees, they are into farming or selling. The town is growing while the tourists are coming. But for some if not most locals, some government livelihood projects would be a welcome development.

The government could look into raising tilapia as a livelihood program in the town. But since raising the fish needs a lot of water, maybe my former classmate Edward Latawan Jr. who is now mayor of the town could tap the help of concerned government agencies like the National Irrigation Agency to bring water where these are needed.

Maybe, some Malacanang officials could allot some money for a viable water project instead of getting embroiled in lucrative contracts. Some millions, I guess, wouldn’t be too much in bringing more water to Sagada residences or farms.

Since I was a kid, water had been a problem. There were times there was no water so we had to fetch it from the St. Theodore’s Hospital. We carried the water to the house with a pole slung over our shoulders and on each end was a pail.

Maybe, this is one of the reasons why I didn’t grow up to be as tall as a basketball player and had to settle using my finger to earn a living like typing this column.

Lest we stray from our topic, I know of another former classmate who pioneered tilapia raising in the town. Engineer Albert Bangsail Jr. raised tilapia in Lasig, near the Danum Lake at the border of Sagada and Besao. He started the project in 2000 and raised the fish in three ponds. He also raised another fish called kaling.

He got this idea after he trained at CLSU, Munoz, Nueva Ecija. The training was called “Training on tilapia hatchery and grow out management. He bought the initial fingerling there. During the first two harvests, he along with his wife Soledad sold it at 100 per kilo. They could not meet the demands. (Soledad, now a lawyer is now with the Public Attorney’s Office based in the capital town of Bontoc.)

Soledad told this writer they stopped selling and raised mainly for the family’s consumption and for friends who would go picnicking there. The project could have been a lucrative one if there were more ponds to raise the fish and the technology to make these grow bigger and multiply faster.

“In his experience, raising jojo is more profitable since it does not need much water and you don’t need to feed them with commercial feeds unlike tilapia where we still buy aqua foods,” Soledad said. “Both tilapia and jojo maybe harvested after four months. Jojo sells at 200 per "ube" this time. It is much easier than raising hogs and healthier too.”

The health and wealth benefits of raising these kinds of fish, as we said earlier, could be a viable livelihood in the town.
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Like Sagada, Asin and Nangalisan barangays in Tuba, Benguet could also be good places for raising tilapia. A lot of tourists also go to Asin but tilapia-raising could also be a welcome livelihood alternative in the barangays as there is a lot of water but then again, the government has also to find ways to bring these to the farms.

I should know since I always go there to relax at the hot spring resort of Roger Sinot and his wife Karen, also of Sagada. There were times my padlis would go to the house of Rex Sapla, another common friend a few meters down the road to drink some spirits.

The drinks stopped when we ate all Rex’s tilapia which he raised at the ponds beside his house. He said he stopped raising the fish as it needed more time and since he was with the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
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Domecio Cimatu, a former newsman was also one of the pioneers in raising tilapia in Nangalisan and at the Ambuklao Dam in Itogon, Benguet when he was still with the Benguet Electric Coop. Tilapia raising was one of the social concerns projects of the Beneco and now, the people of Ambuklao are reaping the benefits.

So, if you see large tilapias being sold in the capital town of La Trinidad, Benguet and nearby Baguio City, chances are these came from Ambuklao. I don’t know if Nangalisan folks near the border of Aringay, La Union still raise the staple fish.
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I know there are a lot of tilapias being cared for and eaten alng the nightspots of Baguio particularly along Naguillan and Marcos Highways and yes, even Magsaysay road. This kind of tilapia business is also lucrative but that is another story.