Bolinao ‘danggit’ makers making waves

BOLINAO, Pangasinan — Move over Cebu. When it comes to “danggit,” a dried fish delicacy, this town is making big waves.

Just recently the Santiago Island SEA-K Workers’ Association of Bolinao (SISWAB), which has made danggit production the island village’s main industry, has been hailed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development as best people’s organization this year.

SISWAB, an organization composed of 108 enterprising women on Santiago Island who produce “Bolinao danggit” from “barangen” or rabbitfish, bagged DSWD’s P25,000 grand prize.

Island residents realized the potential of danggit due to the abundance of the barangen in Bolinao’s coast, which features a vast seagrass bed suitable for rabbitfish habitation.

The seagrass bed off Bolinao has an aggregate area of more than 20,000 hectares, making it rich not only in barangen but barangen and “padas.”

Danggit production has become a family enterprise for most islanders as evidenced by panels upon panels of the solar-dried fish almost everywhere.

DSWD’s convergence strategy and Community Driven Enterprise Development (CDED) Program improved the danggit processing and established a trading center with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in coordination with the local government and the barangay council.

With the enhanced danggit processing, the SISWAB members buy the barangen fish from its members for processing, packaging and selling to customers and prospective market outlets at a standard cost.

To accommodate bigger demands, the DOLE-assisted Project Drying Machine is a big help in attaining improved quality and higher production of danggit.

The project started with the capital share of SISWAB amounting to P50,000 from DSWD and LGU-Bolinao counterpart worth P110,000. The Drying Machine from DOLE had been approved with the total cost of P424,400.

Residents are now more driven towards not only increasing their income but providing more employment and opening more tourism opportunities.