DUE to the delay of highland vegetable transport caused by the truck ban, the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) in La Trinidad has asked for more alternative routes.
During the 1st Highland Vegetable Festival on Friday, Cordillera Trading Post Vegetable Traders Association INC. (CTPVTA) chairman Elsie Gis-it said truck ban triggers buyers to cram for time with the trading of highland vegetables from BAPTC. The group has been asking for solutions to the problem.
Dr. Violeta Salda, BAPTC chief operations officer, said that if only they have additional alternative routes, they will not worry about the truck ban which prolongs their trading activity.
“Vegetables are perishables, so highland vegetables from BAPTC must be delivered to Manila as soon as possible. And the truck ban is a delay to our trading and if they were late because of that, those vegetables will perish and be considered as trash considering that one truck load, a 20- wheeler truck is 25 to 27 tons, it’s worth millions,” she added.
Benguet provides the biggest number of vegetables because of the livelihood income of people in the province came from agriculture.
Baguio City has set truck ban rules thru Ordinance No. 5 series of 2017.
In the ordinance, the aldermen acknowledged the immense traffic experienced during rush hours is worsened by slow moving trucks, trailers, dump trucks and other freight trucks utilizing the roads thus the need to amend existing measures to minimize traffic jams and inconveniences and to maintain smooth flow of traffic within the central business district, city-maintained thoroughfares, streets and roads.
In the truck ban, heavy equipment vehicles, trailers, dump trucks, and other freight trucks with gross weight capacity of 4,500 kilograms or more are not allowed to enter or traverse, park, load, unload or pass through the streets or roads in the city of Baguio from 6 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 9 p.m. in specified roads.
Cargoes deliverable to particular places and or person outside the streets or roads specified, the provisions of the ordinance provide the delivery will not be done within the prohibited area. (Fionna Mel Kathy Felicitas/MMSU Intern)