More than a market

Title

More than a market

Creator

Cuenca, Al, Jr.

Language

English

Year

1969

Subject

Markets

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

MORE THAN A MARKET By AL CUENCA, JR. THERE are more or less 67 major public markets in Manila and suburban cities and municipalities. What passes for markets, how ever, are merely marginal build ings housing stalls where agricul tural produce, meat and dairy products are haphazardly sold. The premises are congested, disorganized, unsanitary and they lack adequate storage, refrigera tion handling facilities. They also do not have enough parking space and facilities for shippers, truck operators and travelling merchants. Even more repre hensible is the existence of un desirable elements who prey on the traders and customersGrowing Needs Crammed in some 38.3 square kilometers of. land, these markets can hardly cope with the grow ing needs of the more than 2 mil lion consumers living in the area. Studies show that starting this year, people living in the area will be consuming 589,213 metric tons of fruits, roots and veget ables comprising 18.25 per cent of the total Philippine supply of that food group; 548,412 metric tons of cereals comprising 8.5 per cent of the country’s total cereal supply; 101,066 metric tons of fish, or IL83 per cent of the to tal fish supply; and 61,211 metric tons of meat which is 22.76 per cent of the total supply. Should the present natural population growth and migration continue, there will be 3,109,000 people in the Greater Manila area by 1970 and 4,452,000 by 1982. The coun try therefore has to expand its marketing facilities to cope with this population growth. Then there is the role of agri culture in the overall economy to consider. Agricultural Sector The agricultural sector in 1966 contributed 38.8 per cent to net domestic products compared with 18.6 per cent contributed by the manufacturing sector, and 25.8 per cent contributed by services. The 10 principal exports are ag ricultural products and it is es timated that'two-thirds of the po pulation is dependent on agricul ture, with 57 per cent of the la bor force engaged in it. More than one-half of the agricultural activities are devoted to raising food crops and livestock. These factors have led to low incomes for farmers and produ cers, depriving them of the incen tives to produce more, thereby perpetuating the imbalance res ponsible for the spiraling of pri ces as population growth outpaces production. Vast Storage The Greater Manila Terminal Food Market, Inc.,* hopes to solve this chaotic condition and provide an immediate answer to the mar keting requirements of the peo ple in the greater Manila areaOccupying 120 hectares of the Fort Bonifacio reservation the farmers’' market will also be an entrepot — a vast storage and wholesale distribution center for the produce of, initially, some one million farmers from 27 prin cipal supplier-provinces in Lu zon, the Visayas and Mindanao. DBP Aid The DBP is at present nego tiating with a foreign firm to supply equipment and materials for the construction of the mar ket structure through or jointly with a local contractor, install the necessary equipment and pro vide technical services on either a long term or deferred payment plan. Not too long ago, Liberal Sena tor Juan Liwag charged that the establishment of the market com plex was a “cover up” for a land grab of 120 hectares of choice land, and that the establishment of a subsidiary corporation was a violation of the DBP charter and the Anti-Graft Law. Teehankee Ruling Responding to the charges, then Justice Secretary Claudio Teehankee ruled that Senator Liwag’s opinion “is plainly unten able,” and that the provision of the Constitution, which the Sena tor cited to have been violated, was a prohibition directed against Congress and not at other gov ernment agencies like the DBP. The provision, argued the jus tice secretary, does not “preclude other methods of organizing a government owned or controlled entity, such as, for instance, by the acquisition of all or a major ity of the shares of an existing private corporation to be owned or controlled by the government or its subdivision or instrument ality.” FM Proposal Notwithstanding this ruling of the justice department, President Marcos, to resolve the issue once and for all, proposed recently in his State of the Nation message that Congress pass a law to de fine guidelines for the creation of private corporations for a pub lic purpose to erase all doubts as to the legality of these corpora tions, such as the Greatei Manila Terminal Food Market and the National Housing Corporation, and to enable the executive de partment to plan freely and sys tematically the set-up of such cor porations. The market complex will pro vide for the first time a central and systematic marketing and distributing center for agricultu ral and other food products, with the aim of stabilizing prices, standardizing quality, and in creasing the income of producers by removing middlemen, PM 6 PHILIPPINE MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 28, 1969

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