It was five in the morning, and professional boxer Jelbirt Gomera quickly rose to go about his daily routine. After a quick shower, a heavy breakfast, and usual stretching, he walked out of the Highland Boxing Gym, which serves as his home and proceeded to the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post. It will be another day of lifting loads of vegetables from one vehicle to the 10-wheeler trucks lined up to be filled with assorted vegetables.
Gomera, a former Orient Pacific Boxing Federation champion, could be seen together with his colleagues MJ Oduña, Ador Torres, and Louie Jorda, hauling sacks of vegetables from truck to truck early in the morning until late in the afternoon.
This has been the routine of these professional boxers after eight months of having no scheduled fights due to the pandemic. But just like Gomera, many other residents in Benguet province have benefited from the vegetable industry, which continued to operate amidst the pandemic.
The Department of Agriculture has ensured unhampered movement of food supply during the pandemic, which included temperate vegetables from the highlands, where bulk of the supply of the vegetables in the country are grown.
Gov. Melchor Diclas said while there are those that garnered huge losses like the business sector especially at the start of the pandemic where restrictions were tight, the highland vegetable industry continued to operate, where displaced individuals work for the meantime.
It was tough for the highland vegetable industry during the lockdown from March to June where as much as P77 million in potential revenues were lost, according to the DA-Cordillera. But farmers and traders started to recover in the succeeding months, earning P220 million in sales through the direct marketing facilitated by the agency.
Also, the various local government units stepped in to help the farmers struggling to sell their produce. Diclas said they have allocated P500,000 to buy carrots from farmers to be used as part of relief drive to the different towns.
La Trinidad also did the same by buying the unsold vegetables of farmers, giving them cash assistance and a sack of rice, to give to those in need.
Covid-19 response
While the highland vegetable industry remains unhampered, the question on the health status of farmers and traders going to and from checkpoints bothered concerned quarters. There were demands for the vegetable industry players and stakeholders to be tested from the Covid infection.
The first few positive cases of Covid-19 in the province came from the frontline sector as well as vegetable farmers and truck drivers.
It was only in November that there were 45 positive cases from the vegetable industry due to the expanded testing conducted by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority. Thus, La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda came up with an executive order imposing the “no swab results, no entry” policy at the LTVTP. Salda later recalled the order due to some complaints from the sector but has urged them to get tested.
The biggest surprise for the province would come later from the mining industry.
In October, the province breached the 1,000 mark for Covid-19 cases, where bulk of these cases were recorded in Itogon having 202 cases and Tuba having 212 cases that month. These were all the results of contact tracing of affected miners in Philex Mines, Benguet Corporation, and the Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc.
It was only a matter of time when the mining town of Mankayan also joined in the narrative when it recorded 69 cases on Dec. 3. The cases were a result of the contact tracing done in the municipality.
Amidst these, mayors Victorio Palangdan of Itogon and Frenzel Ayong of Mankayan both shared while they were overwhelmed with the situation, they partnered with the mining firms in their respective towns as well as agencies to contain the situation.
Itogon has partnered with Philex Mines, Benguet Corporation and the Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc. that put up their respective quarantine facilities in the mining sites. The bunkhouses, which were pinpointed as the reasons for the infections, were also used as quarantine areas especially with mining families living in the area, who tested positive together.
Help also poured in from the agencies where the provincial government with the municipal governments of Itogon and Tuba have coordinated with the national government through its ‘Oplan Kalinga’ program, the Department of Health, Office of the Civil Defense, and the City of Baguio for the establishment of more isolation facilities.
Mankayan, meanwhile, partnered with Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company and the Department of Education for the use of its facilities as isolation areas for positive cases.
Expanded testing was also carried out in these municipalities with Mankayan targeting to conduct up to 4,5000 tests with the help of BCDA.
Onwards recovery
With all the challenges brought about by the pandemic, the province is still moving forward to recovery.
In Mankayan, Ayong said money is revolving with the presence of the highland farming industries in the upland barangays and the large-scale and pocket mining areas in its lower barangays.
Salda said the unhampered flow of vegetables has greatly helped in keeping the economy of La Trinidad afloat.
“We are hoping that tourism would be opened so that our constituents would be able to get back on their feet again,” Salda said as plans are in the pipeline for more tourism sites to open.
Diclas, for his part, said while the world still waits for a vaccine, the province would have to continue living and making a living, while practicing basic health protocols.
“We have to live with the virus. But of course, by observing proper health protocols, we can continue to do what we have to do right now,” Diclas said.
As for Gomera, while hauling tons of vegetables helps build his strength and eased his financial burdens, he hopes to get back to full training and finally to see action inside the ring again.