Manila mayor lets Benguet veggie traders in Divisoria

VEGGIE TRUCKERS WELCOMED. Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso (3rd from left) pose for a photo with leaders of the vegetable farmer and traders association led by Benguet Gov. Melchor Diclas (4th from left) on Wednesday at the Manila City hall. The meeting led to fruitful results with the Domagoso granting the request to lift an earlier order prohibiting the entry of truckers for three days from Jan. 17 to 19 during the feast of Sto. Niño. (Photo screen-grabbed from video courtesy of La Trinidad LGU)

By Pigeon Lobien and Liza Agoot  

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Vegetable farmers and traders here supplying vegetables in Metro Manila will have something to celebrate as Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno" Domagoso backtracked on the order prohibiting the entry of vegetable truckers from Jan. 17 to 19.

“Okay na at hindi isasara (Recto Avenue), so tuloy ang purchase ng vegetables (It’s already okay, it won’t be closed, so trading of vegetable will continue),” Agot Balanoy, manager of the Hi-Land Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative, said in a text message to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Thursday.

Balanoy said the good news came when Domagoso met with the leaders of the vegetable industry of Benguet, whose delegation was led by Gov. Melchor Diclas.

She said she received the word from Rudy Bulawan, chairman of the grievance committee of the Benguet traders and truckers, who met with the mayor at the Manila City Hall on Wednesday.

The meeting was requested by the officials of Benguet following information of the mayor’s order to close Recto Avenue from truckers on said dates to give way to the activities for the feast of Sto. Niño.

“We are grateful to the good mayor Isko Moreno for understanding the plight of the farmers and other stakeholders of the local vegetable industry of the Cordillera,” said Balanoy on behalf of their 4,000 members.

Balanoy was not able to join the group due to an earlier appointment with Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Evelyn Lavina at the same hour of the meeting to discuss the proposal for the purchase of new planting materials for strawberry.

Some 1.2 to 1.5 million kilograms of assorted vegetables are transported daily from the trading post here. Of these, about 500,000 are brought to Divisoria. During holidays, the volume is doubled or tripled.

In three days if they are not allowed to reach Divisoria, Benguet farmers are expected to suffer heavy losses this January due to the low price of vegetables because of overproduction. 

Benguet vegetable farmers and traders who are supplying vegetables to Metro Manila and other parts of the country earlier appealed to the Manila mayor to allow them to bring their produce to Divisoria or lose millions of pesos from rotten vegetables.

The same call was aired by officials here who are coordinating with the Manila City mayor's office for a dialogue.

Rudy Bulawan, chairman of the grievance committee of the traders and truckers, said on Monday the week will be a difficult one as they will not be allowed to enter Recto Avenue in Manila for more than three days during Tondo’s celebration of the feast of Sto. Niño.

Bulawan’s group is composed of more than 100 20-ton trucks, 20 of which are delivering vegetables to Divisoria twice a day or a minimum of 400 tons of assorted vegetables.

Bulawan said the truckers transport 1.2 to 1.5 million kilograms of assorted vegetables from the trading post here daily and about 500,000 of which are brought to Divisoria. These figures double or triple during the holiday season.

As of Monday, when half of the road was closed due to asphalting works, the prices of vegetables have dropped to as high as 50 percent for carrots and 20 percent for cabbage in the wholesale prices. The prices of cabbage on Monday were at PHP8.

The Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center reported that as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the prices of vegetables are as follows: radish PHP1-PHP2; first-class Scorpio cabbage PHP6-PHP7; jumbo potato PHP60 to PHP65; carrots PHP10 to PHP12; first-class sayote PHP3 to PHP4; second class sayote PHP1 to PHP2; untrimmed broccoli PHP7 to PHP10; first-class cauliflower at PHP10 to PHP15; second-class cauliflower at PHP4 to PHP5; celery at PHP5; and wombok (Chinese cabbage) at PHP5 to PHP8.

La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda said he earlier coordinated with the staff of Domagoso for a possible schedule of a dialogue.

Earlier, the vegetable traders' group had requested the Baguio City government to allow them to use the different Sundays of January for the use and closure of Session Road to sell vegetables and avoid the further loss in income of the farmers. (PNA)