Farmer-producers and consumers in Ilocos Norte feasted on the Kadiwa ng Pangulo pop-up store at the west wing of the provincial capitol on Monday, selling food and agricultural products at cheaper prices.

Daylin Pascual, 48, a resident of Barangay 56 Bacsil North, this city said that as early as 7 a.m., her stall of freshly picked eggplant, pepper, jute and ampalaya leaves, including ripe bananas are already displayed at the event area, attracting passersby on their way to work.

“We are so happy to showcase our products being swarmed by buyers. I hope this will be sustained to help both producers and consumers,” Pascual said in an interview.

Ilocos Norte is among the 81 provinces nationwide that participated in the simultaneous launch of the Kadiwa ng Pangulo program as participated by farmers, fisherfolk, and micro-enterprises in collaboration with the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Agriculture, National Food Authority, Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Corazon Valdez, market specialist of the Department of Agriculture, said the Kadiwa ng Pangulo was initiated during the term of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos and it is now being revived by his son and namesake President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to get rid of middlemen in the movement of agricultural products from farms to consumers.

“This is an avenue to bring farmers closer to the market and for us consumers to buy commodities from them at a cheaper price,” said Valdez, citing the Kadiwa program will be facilitated by concerned government agencies every 15 and 30 of the month, where local farmers are to sell their produce to their consumers at an affordable price.

Produce such as rice, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruits, livestock, and other basic commodities, will be made accessible and affordable to the marginalized sector.

On the same day, bangus (milkfish) raisers in Pangasinan who are being assisted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the marketing of their products were able to sell 500 kilos in Ilocos Norte.

“The 500 kilos of bangus was not even enough to cater to our buyers today,” said a representative of the bangus fisherfolk, who was among the first to leave the Kadiwa because their supply was “sold out.”

Pegged at PHP140 per kilo, some buyers opted to buy three to four kilos each as the selling price of bangus in Kadiwa ng Pangulo is cheaper by PHP30 to PHP40 per kilo than in the supermarket.

“Thank you so much for bringing over Kadiwa ng Pangulo to Ilocos Norte. Our farmers, as well as the micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs, really need all the support as they are the key to a progressive economy,” said Vice Governor Cecilia Araneta-Marcos during the launching ceremony attended by fellow members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

35 MSMEs join KNP in Cebu

In Cebu, 35 micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) have joined the nationwide simultaneous launching of the Kadiwa ng Pangulo (KNP).

Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) Undersecretary Terence Calatrava said the 35 MSMEs have pledged to support the Marcos administration’s effort to reinvigorate small-economic drivers and to provide consumers with affordable food and non-food commodities through the KNP.

“President Marcos witnessed the MOA (memorandum of agreement) signing somewhere in Luzon for the establishment of Kadiwa ng Pangulo in the local government units nationwide. The people in the Visayas are here to answer the President’s call to institutionalize the initiative,” Calatrava said.

Calatrava, together with Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and heads of regional government agencies, led the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Robinson’s Galleria to mark the start of the KNP, featuring pop-up stores of the 35 MSMEs.

The Kadiwa pop-up stores will sell their products in the said establishment until Wednesday.

Lawyer Leocadio Trovela, regional director of the Department of Interior and Local Government-Central Visayas, said the governors and mayors in the region have also committed to setting up KNPs in their localities.

In Central Visayas, Trovela said the provinces of Bohol, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, and the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu have joined the simultaneous launching of the KNP, giving local farmers and producers of locally-produced agricultural-based food and non-food products a platform to sell at a lower price.

Garcia vowed to integrate the province of Cebu’s “service caravan” in every district with Marcos administration’s Kadiwa initiative.

Garcia thanked the President for the initiative, which, she said, has created additional markets for farmers, fisherfolks, and MSMEs to sell locally produced agri-fishery products and other commodities.

KNP also enables farmers to sell directly to the consumers by removing market layers, making fresh agricultural and fishery commodities accessible at affordable prices. (PNA)