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ZAMBOANGA CITY—After the fresh fruits, executives of big
business establishments in metropolis are now interested
in buying seafood from the island province of Sulu to be
brought and sold in their supermarkets in Metro Manila.
Sulu
Gov. Abdusakur Tan said he received text messages on
Tuesday, a day after the first air shipment of fresh
fruits from Sulu to Manila, from the business executives
who said they are also interested to help the province
in marketing its seafood.
Tan said
it would be a big help to the fisherfolk of the province
once fresh seafood, aside from fruits, would be shipped
as well directly to Metro Manila supermarkets.
Tan said
the fisherfolk of Sulu are capable of supplying the
market demands in Metro Manila areas, citing 80 percent
of the seafood that are shipped from this region come
from Sulu.
“We have
the capability in supplying the big supermarkets in
Metro Manila,” he said.
Tan said
he had talked with Sen. Richard Gordon about the
shipment of seafood to Manila and that the senator is
trying to sound out the airlines to ferry the goods
directly from Jolo, the provincial capital.
Sulu
province is situated at the southernmost tip of the
Philippine archipelago. It lies midway between the
provinces of Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.
The Sulu
and Mindanao seas surround the province on the west and
north and the
Celebes Sea on the east, which Tan said is abundant with seafood.
Over 157
islands and islets, some of them still unnamed, compose
the province of Sulu. These are divided into four
groups, namely, the Jolo group, the Pangutaran group,
the Tongkil-Banguigui (Samales) group and the
Siasi-Tapul group.
As to
the fresh fruits shipped to
Manila
on Monday, Tan was informed by SM executives that the
fruits, which include lanzones, magosteen and durian,
were sold out in less than one hour.
Gordon
arrived in Sulu on Monday aboard a C-130 cargo plane of
the Philippine Air Force directly from Manila and
ferried back about six tons of fruits that were
harvested by local farmers.
Gordon
was accompanied by executives of big business
establishments in Manila such as Shopwise, SM
Supermarket, Rustan’s Supercenters and Nestlé, to whom
the fruits were sold in bulk.
Gordon,
Tan, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace
Process Undersecretary Nabil Tan, AAI representative and
executives from Shopwise, SM Supermarket, Rustan’s
Supercenters and Nestlé signed a memorandum of
agreement to support the “Fruits of Hope” program.
The
program is intended to promote and enhance the local
economy, and improve farm incomes and livelihood
opportunities in Sulo.
Undersecretary Tan has called on the farmers of Sulu
province to take advantage of the opportunity under the
Fruit of Hope program that was launched on Monday.
“Let us
all take advantage of this opportunity to promote
investments for hope, where every peso spent is an
investment for lasting peace and sustainable progress,”
he said.
Aside
from fresh seafood, Governor Tan said he would also
coordinate with processors in this city for the shipment
of processed sea- food whose raw supply would come from
Sulu. |
