Market day in the city for organic produce and products

LIGA President and ex-oficio City Councilor Michael Lawana is pushing for the enactment of legislation that would designate a market day for organic produce and products in the City of Baguio.

In his proposed measure Councilor Lawana noted that at present the City of Baguio has limited market outlets for organic produce and products through which the general public and consumers can access and purchase from. He also observed that there is a necessity to provide an accessible market outlet for the abundant and readily available organic produce and products in the City of Baguio.

Relative to this he cited Section 18 of Republic Act 100068 on the Retailing of Organic Produce which provides that, “retail establishments or store of organic produce shall designate a separate area to display the organic produce to avoid mixing it with non-organic produce”, and Section 19 of the same law which provides that, “Local Chief Executives shall establish, as far as practicable, at least one (1) trading post for organic inputs for every Local Government Unit (LGU) in the area of jurisdiction”.

In his proposed legislative measure the recommended market outlet/trading post shall be at the Igorot Park between the hours of six (6) o’clock until ten (10) o’clock in the morning during Saturdays and Sundays. It also provided that temporary stalls shall be erected and provided by the producer-sellers and the same shall have to be dismantled after ten (10) o’clock in the morning and the over-all cleanliness of the area has to be maintained.

The proposed Ordinance also mandated that only organic agricultural products shall be sold in the said day market at the Igorot Park and which must be grown without the use of any