Luzon agripreneurs hit ban on provincial buses

By Leander Domingo

NORTHERN and Central Luzon small-scale agripreneurs (agriculture entrepreneurs) urged President Rodrigo Duterte and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, specifically the Dept. of Transportation, to lift restrictions on provincial buses entering the National Capital Region.

Lawyer Argee Guevarra, lead convenor of Pilipino Society and Development Advocates, said the ban severely affected small agripreneurs with their businesses now suffering from tripled freight costs.

Guevarra said 80 percent of agripreneurs depend on provincial buses as a cost-effective delivery system for their agricultural produce to reach Metro Manila, a primary market.

“Provincial buses are reliable, fast and cheap. When provincial buses stopped operations, these small agripreneurs also suffered as they lost that one thing that gave them competitiveness — low freight and delivery costs,” Guevarra said.

He said with buses being asked to use the North and South terminals come June 30, these small agripreneurs would now be forced to pay the costs of delivery from the provincial bus to city buses, an easy extra thousand pesos, which is substantial for a small business owner. Statistics from the Department of Labor and Employment show that nearly 45 percent of all agripreneurs in the country come from Luzon, especially from the North. It said 53 percent of all agricultural produce comes from Luzon, produced by small and medium-sized agripreneurs.