TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb. 7 (PIA) -- The week when Capitol promised to bring in good quality fish at P180 per kilo when the same fish displayed in the public markets ranged from P220 to P240, fish prices in the market suddenly sagged to P160.
Bohol Fish Buy-Back Coordinator Jerome Salvio Madanguit, speaking during the Kapihan sa PIA, said they were first concerned about Capitol’s offer of P180, and fish prices immediately took a dive.
“A day before we launched the Fish Buy-Back Program, we announced that there is a load of fish coming, three kinds of fish, and Capitol is selling it at P180. At that day of the announcement, the same fish displayed in the market stalls were priced at P240,” Madanguit recalled.
“On the day of the launch, monitors at the Office of the Provincial Agriculture told me that public markets are suddenly lowering their prices at P170 and P160 per kilo,” he said.
“So the governor was right. He was able to achieve the goal of bringing the price down by posing in the competition, and he also proved that the price could be much lower, if there were no greedy people controlling the price,” Madanguit added.
When the Fish Buy-Back Program forced market vendors to bring down their offer even much lower than the Capitol’s offer, the program worked, he said.
“Every time we have a fish delivery which we sell at the Old Tagbilaran City Airport at a lower price, the market scene would also go much down. When all our fish are sold out, the vendors go back to their bloated pricing,” Madanguit added.
The aim of lowering the fish price and making it justly affordable to Boholanos, however, is a complicated issue, he admitted.
He said Bohol only produces P42% of its fish requirement, highlighting the massive gap between supply and the huge demand, which drives the prices up.
“With this issue at hand, we have to import fish, especially when the 16 fishermen’s organization have not yet been able to fully operate according to the Memorandum of Agreement,” Madanguit said.
In November, Bohol Provincial Government represented by Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado signed with the 17 fishermen’s organization and market vendors along with concerned national government agencies, the Fish Buy-Back program. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)
