Kidapawan City – An agricultural trading company based in Davao City which exports coconut and Durian to China has offered to establish processing facilities in Lanao Del Norte and Zamboanga Del Norte to provide jobs to returning informal urban dwellers under the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program of the Duterte Administration.
Eng Seng Food Products President John Tan said his company will open up processing facilities for young coconuts to be exported to China and bottling facilities for Spanish Sardines in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
He said his company along with several other food processing companies are looking for an area in Northern Mindanao where they could establish an Export Processing Zone using products from Mindanao, especially those produced in the BPBPP communities.
Among the factories he intends to establish is a fish drying and dehydrating facility and a glass bottle manufacturing plant to supply the bottle needs of the growing Spanish Sardines industry of the Zamboanga Peninsula.
Another private corporation, the GNPK Power Corporatio, has provided support to the establishment of the BPBPP Resettlement Village in Kauswagan, Lanao Del Norte by donating the area for the village which it paid for in the amount of P6-M.
Kauswagan Mayor Rommel Arnado said GNPK volunteered to pay for the land as its contribution to the program being pushed by Senator Christopher Lawrence Go and supported by President Rody Duterte.
The BPBPP is an initiative by the Duterte Administration to shift the focus of development in the countryside by creating job opportunities in the provinces while at the same time decongesting the urban centers with informal settlers.
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) which coordinates the implementation of the BPBPP in Mindanao has identified three pilot areas for the project.
The first group of BPBPP returnees are expected to arrive in Zamboanga Del Norte on June 17.
They will be kept in a quarantine facility for 15 days during which they will also be trained by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The Department of Social Welfare and Development will provide them with subsistence support while the National Housing Authority (NHA) will establish housing units which the beneficiaries will pay on a long term payment program.
(Photos show the products of Eng Sang Food Products and Eng Sang President John Tan.)
More Stories
Trump Presidency Boon To Philippine Agriculture
Mindanao Fruit Fest Scheduled Sept. 2025
DA, MinDA, LGU! MinDA Targets Tribal Areas For Highland Rice Farming