Vendors in Divisoria—the trading center for fruits and vegetables in Metro Manila—are urging Metro citizens to prioritize buying fresh produce from the provinces.
The call came as people rush to stock up on canned goods and preserved foods while fresh vegetables are left to rot because of deteriorating sales and slow delivery due to quarantine measures implemented amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Paunti-po ng paunti ang delivery kasi nahihirapan na rin pong mag-deliver ang mga farmers dito sa Divisoria ”(Deliveries become difficult by the day because it’s getting more difficult for farmers to deliver to Divisoria), according to Lilian Dayrit, a small vegetable stall owner.
Dayrit gets her goods daily from Benguet and Abra vegetable dealers.
“Tapos marami din pong natitira dahil mas gusto ng tao ung de lata dahil hindi agad nabubulok.” (We have a lot of leftovers because people prefer canned goods which last longer).
A truck driver who delivers vegetables from Benguet admits to Manila Standard that they still experience long delays because of the checkpoints going to Metro Manila. “kahit po may special lane, mahaba pa rin po ang byahe namin, kaya na discourage na rin po magdeliver ung mga boss namin. (Even with a special lane, it’s still a long travelfor us. Our bosses are getting discouraged to deliver)”
This, aside from the fact that dealers also experience delays in transaction in trading posts in La Trinidad, Benguet because of the quarantine measure.
Dealers are reportedly discouraged on the long delays and could only deliver once a day.
Television reports also showed farmers either giving or throwing away their produce after only a few of them were sold in the trading posts because of slow transaction. There were also reports that some LGUs are now
preventing their farmers from selling outside their provinces to preserve their supply.
The COVID-19 Inter-agency Task Force has been calling the Philippine National Police manning the checkpoints to Metro Manila to ease up on
the food deliveries for them to be able to reach Manila as fast as possible.
In an interview over DZMM, Department of Agriculture Secretary Williaim Dar said they will use the agency’s trucks to transport the supplies from North Luzon to Metro Manila.