THIS week, La Trinidad’s strawberries and flowers will take the backseat for the highland vegetables – as per Municipal Ordinance No. 31-2018, or the La Trinidad Highland Vegetable Industry Week Ordinance, the Municipality will be celebrating the Highland Vegetable Industry Week this July 10-12, 2019 at the Municipal Gym to promote and give tribute to the teeming Highland Vegetable Industry of the capital town. This year’s theme is: “Sustaining the highland vegetable industry for a vibrant economy.”
Coincidentally, July is also celebrated as the Nutrition awareness month when we are reminded to eat our greens for a balanced diet, especially so since reports also point out that half of the region’s population is overweight and bordering to obese (like me?). So, in order to shoot two birds in one go, we are inviting everyone to join our three-day event starting on June 10 with a special program and the opening of a mini-Agrobazaar, the launching of the organic vegetable honesty store/stand, and the viewing and judging of the edible vegetable urban garden. There will also be a Farmer’s Forum on the afternoon of the first day where topics such as Foodlane, HVCPD, FPA, and Organic Agriculture will be tackled by Farmers, Truckers, and all identified agricultural stakeholders. The 2nd day (July 11) will be more fun since there will be various skills competition and games like: Vegetable Salad Making Contest, “Pinaka” contest, Vegetable Pizza Making, Vegetable Carving Contest, and Vegetable Fun Run (Yes, this one is the needed physical activity). There will also be literary-musical events: the Folk media contest (group presentations) and Musical Solo Contest for local amateur musicians in La Trinidad. Of course, all the events on this day shall be tailored with the obvious theme of ‘highland vegetables and the local vegetable industry of the town’. The highlight of the event entitled “Vegielicious”: Highland vegetable salad toss and serving will be featured on the last day (June 12, 2019) at the Municipal gymnasium. The program will start at 12 noon.
For this meaningful event, the La Trinidad Highland Vegetable Industry Week Steering board headed by Ms. Felicitas Ticbaen, the Municipal Agriculturist, with the supervision of the town’s officials headed by Mayor Romeo Salda, wishes to thank the League of Associations at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Area, Inc. under the leadership of Ma’am Nora Ganase, for the overwhelming support to the various activities of the La Trinidad Highland Vegetable Industry Week. Truly, a successful community requires successful partnerships by the local government and the community (including the private sector). Iyaman! Salasalamat en dakayo!
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It seems that the trend now for leaders is political will even to a point of micro-management on the ground (like Mayor Isko Moreno, and Mayor Benjie Magalong). In management, a chaotic organization or population demands iron-hand leadership, hence, the rise of authoritarian rule in an unmanageable society. The challenge perhaps is in being strong and at the same time respectful to involved rights. It is difficult to become leaders, especially when some people are banking on chaos to thrive.