ILOILO CITY – A total of 2.5 tons of sweet mangoes that were shipped from Guimaras following the cancellation of its Manggahan Festival agri-trade fair this week will be available for Manila and Quezon City clients.
Liberty Ferrer, Senior Tourism Operations Officer and officer-in-charge of the Provincial Tourism Office (PTO), said the fruits are ready for pick up by clients on May 20 to 21.
Around 30 tons of mangoes are expected to be available this third week of May in time for the agri-trade fair, she said.
With the cancellation, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) decided to put up a "Bagsakan Center" in Manila where preordered mangoes from the province will be displayed.
Joejin Galvez of the Guimaras Office for Agricultural Services, in a separate interview, said that as of Wednesday the preordered volume with the DTI reached one ton.
They will be ready for pick up from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the DTI-Parking Lot, Trade & Industry Building, 361 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue in Makati City starting Thursday.
Galvez said that they coordinated with the Department of Agriculture (DA) for the remaining 1.5 tons to be displayed at the Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita (Kadiwa) outlet at the central office of the Department of Agriculture in Diliman, Quezon City.
“We were informed by the Kadiwa in-charge that they will only display mango products from Guimaras on those dates,” she said.