A Benguet official is pushing to establish permanent “KADIWA ng Pangulo” centers across the province to bridge the gap between national agricultural frameworks and local needs.
Board Member Neptali Camsol, in his proposed ordinance, targets full localized guidelines for the national food security initiative.
The ordinance seeks to institutionalize a sustainable market linkage system.
Under Section 3 of the proposal, the KADIWA program will operate at least once a month, establishing distinct market clusters for fresh agricultural produce, processed food, and micro-entrepreneur stalls.
Funding will be drawn from the provincial government’s general fund under Section 7, ensuring continuous operational support.
Camsol emphasized that the local measure is designed to make the national law more accessible to residents.
“We want to brand it for the province so we can establish what truly helps and what programs are appropriate for our province. We are localizing it, but we will put established guidelines,” Camsol said in local dialect.
Addressing economic volatility at trading posts, Camsol admitted price control remains difficult due to open market competition across provincial borders.
“It’s very hard to protect against the law of supply and demand. Here in Benguet, we can only control our own people. We cannot control those from Ifugao or from Mountain Province,” Camsol explained, noting that Benguet can only regulate its own traders.
To balance regional trade and prevent market oversaturation, the program will tap verified, registered small-scale farmers.
Camsol added that the centers will not operate daily to protect traditional vendors.
“We don’t want it every day because it might hurt the market of our legitimate local laborers,” he said.
Program implementation will be monitored through a database led by the provincial governor to maintain transparency.
The measure is tracking a fast legislative timeline, with expectations to integrate operations into long-term provincial financial planning.
Camsol is optimistic the proposed ordinance will hurdle second reading as early as July 7 and hopefully be passed before the start of the budget deliberation. Clariz Hidalgo | UC Intern
