PAGUDPUD, Ilocos Norte—Town Mayor Rafael Ralph Benemerito expressed his “deepest thanks and gratitude” to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for granting the construction of an ice plant and cold storage and modern fish market in this town.
Benemerito said Pagudpud is “so lucky” to these PHP100 million worth of projects as promised by the President.
He said that the two projects would be of great help to the municipal fisher folks for the preservation of their caught fish with the help of the ice plant and cold storage facility.
“Dakkkel to a tulong kadagiti agkalkalap tayo ta ngamin addan to pangidulinan da dagiti makalapan da ken tapnu saan a maperdi aglalo no tay kaadu na iti makalapan da. Ken kasta met tay pannakailaku da babaen to daytoy modern fish market,” Benemerito said.
According to the mayor, the two projects will also be in preparation for commercial fishing vessels that they will soon use.
“Ket saan pay a commercial fishing vessel iti maus-usar ti agdama ket nagadun iti maal-ala nga ikan ket namak to payen no dagitay dadakkel a fishing vessel iti mausar a pagkalap. Pagpadawat da payen nukwan dadduma ta imbes a maperdi ta ngamin awan met storage facility a mausar da pay,” he added.
He noted that the ongoing construction of the PHP48 million ice plant and cold storage facility is located just beside the Pagudpud public market while the PHP66 million modern fish market’s construction will start this December.
He stressed that the projects will also be open to the nearby towns to help them to store their catches as a way of helping them.
The mayor hopes that with the presence of these two projects, target prices of fishes in Pagudpud would become cheaper aside from being fresh from the sea, however, there is still the “law of supply and demand”.
“Ita ngamin ket dagitay la marginalized fishermen pay laeng dagiiti agklakalap ket tay supply a makalapan da ket saan a kasdiay iti kadakkel diay demand, so adda tendency na a medyo nanginngina iti presyo ita. Ngem no volume iti maala ken dakkel iti supply, dakkel met iti tendency na a bumamba iti presyo ti ikan.” the mayor explained.
The mayor also believes that Pagudpud may also export tuna soon as the Bureau of Fish and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said that Pagudpud is a “tuna highway”.
“Ket kas pammaneknek adu dagitay maal-ala da a dadakkel nukwa a tuna ket no addan to dagitay commercial vessels tayo, namnamaen tayo volumes to met iti makalapan tayon,” he disclosed. (Dominic B. dela Cruz)
