COTABATO CITY – Sen. Panfilo Lacson has commended the initial gains of the Mindanao Development Authority-sponsored Fruits Festival during a recent Senate committee hearing on the agency’s budget for next year.
“We commend this initiative of Secretary (Manny) Piñol for providing a direct link of Mindanao’s agri-producers to key markets in Luzon,” a MinDA statement quoted Lacson as saying in his finance sub-committee hearing on Sept. 19.
Lacson expressed support to the MinDA plan to further expand the initiative to other parts of the country.
Piñol echoed at the committee hearing his earlier announcement that after the four successful staging of the fruit festival in Northern Luzon, the festival will be held in Cebu from Sept. 28 to 29.
“Secretary Michael Dino, Presidential Assistant for Visayas, will host the Cebu staging of the MinDA Fruits Festival to give Cebuanos access to fresh fruits from Mindanao at lower prices,” Piñol said.
The Lacson sub-committee has approved and endorsed for Senate plenary deliberation the P178-million proposed by MinDA for 2020, which includes activities to pursue inclusive agribusiness program in Mindanao, he said.
Pinol said his agency is also embarking on highlighting Mindanao’s agricultural products and tourism destinations through a program dubbed “The Treasures and Beauty of the Bangsamoro” Expo.
The expo, slated next month, will feature the five component provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao – Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi – to “promote the peaceful and progressive image of the region,” said Pinol, whom President Duterte had earlier named as “point man” for the infant region. (Ali G. Macabalang)
