Farmers and traders donated millions of pesos worth of unsold vegetables to the local government of La Trinidad, Benguet and gave them free to the public.
Mayor Romeo Salda said the drop in the price of some vegetables prompted the farmers and traders to just donate than let the vegetables rot in the fields as no buyers would go to the trading post for transportation to Metro Manila and other parts of the country.
Good Samaritan: Benguet farmer donates 1,500 kilos of lettuce
The distribution of free vegetables began in April and continues.
When it started, farmers received a small amount of money and a sack of rice in exchange for vegetables. They also obtained fuel to reimburse the cost of transporting the goods. Today, however, farmers are no longer getting rice, fuel, or cash.
“It is not payment and not even remuneration for the cost of the vegetables they give. But a little help to them who lost capital for the unsold vegetables,” Salda said.
Some of the vegetables were also donated to the locked barangays of Baguio City for distribution to the affected residents.
Benguet farmers donate trucks of vegetables for Taal evacuees
