By DANNY O. SAGUN
PIA Pangasinan Infocenter

CALASIAO – Producers of different milkfish products like the popular boneless marinated bangus badly need a fish processing plant for them to compete in local and international markets, Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim stressed Tuesday.

Addressing stakeholders of the milkfish industry who gathered at the Regency Hotel here to discuss the proposed bangus products standards, Lim said the processing plant will cater to the needs of industry players for a fee. He noted small producers rely on the primitive system due to lack of capital.

“May mga nagdedebone dyan at room temperature at may langaw pa,” he said. With blast freezer, he said that newly harvested bangus can already be rock hard within 20 minutes to preserve freshness.

Lamenting the lack of full support of the national government to his pet fish processing plant project, the mayor said that the asked the private sector and investors instead to help him realize the proposed P150-million plant.

He recalled that the national government pledged to allot P50 million for the project four years ago. “But the money never came,” he said, adding that the P10 million advanced by the national government amounted to practically nothing, “Anong magagawa mo sa P10 million?”

He said that he was given a runaround when he followed up the promised release with the concerned agencies like the agriculture department and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

He expressed hope however that BFAR will still reconsider the project, reiterating his appeal to BFAR people present during the dialogue including Regional Director Nestor Domenden, who also addressed the consultation activity.

Excluding equipment, some P150 million is required to provide land and building.
With superior packaging and marketing strategies, other areas have already gone way ahead of the province in promoting and developing their bangus industry, Lim noted, citing as example the province of Bulacan.

He said that Feedmix, a poultry feeds maker, has tied up with Jolibee and bangus producers in Bulacan. “Naunahan na tayo,” he said, while claiming that bangus from that province is inferior when compared to the tasty Bonuan bangus.

Other counties like Thailand and Vietnam are really serious in supporting their industries, he also said. “Dito puro ngawngaw, pagkatapos ng publicity sa dyaryo at TV wala na,” he lamented.

The mayo likewise urged everybody to prepare for the coming of a million-strong Chinese tourists in the years ahead who, he said, will be buying the country’s sea foods and other aquatic products which are not so abundant in that country unlike in the Philippines. (DOS/PIA)