Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda celebrated on Wednesday, February 1 her birthday by launching the ‘’Bayong-All-You-Can’’ program in the Senate and distributed 2.5 tons of rescue produce through Rural Rising (RuRi) Philippines.
RuRi is a non-profit organization founded by spouses Ace and Andie Estrada from Baguio City. They help Filipino farmers by doing ‘rescue buys’ in areas where there are over-production of fruits and vegetables.
Senate employees already filled the Senate covered court where they lined-up to register for the event in the morning.
A male personnel from the Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms (OSAA) had a comment apt for February, "Ang bulaklak, after three days tinatapon na, puso ng saging, kinabukasan puwedeng lutuin (You throw away flowers after three days but you cook a heart of a banana the following day).
More than 200 employees, including the Senate media personnel who participated in the event ,were given one bayong (bag) each, which they filled with free fruits and vegetables rescued from distressed farmers. Everyone got an average of 10 kilos each, with vegetables bulging out and filling their arms.
Among the crops distributed are corn, carrots, puso ng saging, banana, red and white camote, guyabano, cabbage, chico, celery, wombok, onion leeks, raddish, sayote, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, eggplant, and lettuce.
Last January 6, 2022, Legarda bought one ton of cauliflowers through RuRi from the farmers of Sta. Catalina, Ilocos Sur. These were distributed to the Tatalon Nanay Power, a women’s organization in Barangay. Tatalon, Quezon City. She visited the RuRi House located at UP Village after the ‘Paglalakbay Kontra Gutom’ event, where she was dubbed as the first Senator-Founding Member of RuRi.
“Our partnership with Sen. Legarda has given us so much encouragement to continue what we are doing to help distressed farmers within our limited reach. We are thrilled by her promise to make our accidental advocacy more impactful not just on the lives of Luzon farmers but those in the Visayas and Mindanao, as well. If that happens, she would have fulfilled the fervent dream of not only a simple couple, but that of the 36,000 members of our group. She has honored us deeply by her presence when she visited us. She is a senator for the farmers,” Andie Estrada said.
Legarda hopes to continue partnering with RuRi to help the distressed Filipino farmers get back on their feet and feed the nation with pride. They are proving that farm-to-table should not be a high society fad but a way of life that should reach all Filipinos.