Pasil, Kalinga – The municipality of Pasil generated more than half million in sales during the celebration of the 28th Kalinga Founding Anniversary and 4th Bodong Festival in February 2023.
With the local government unit and private individuals’ assistance, the barangays in town were able to transfer their booths from Pasil, where they put up their hut stalls during the celebration of Slow Food Festival in Dec. 2022 to the Kalinga Tourism Grounds, said Tourism Officer Rizalyn Dangiw.
Just like the Slow Food Festival and Earth Market Day 2022 set-up, the participating barangays displayed their local products once again in participation to the Bodong Festival to promote the relevance of slow food as a healthy lifestyle. The booths served ingenious meals, snacks, organic vegetables, and local wines such as "basi", "tapuy" and fruit wines. They also had clay pots, soft brooms, baskets, trays and other handicrafts made by the locals on display.
The 10-day event from Feb. 06 to 16 was the first time the farmers in the locality actually participated in selling their products in the province. In previous years, they only sent their products to Pasil LGU, through Tourism program, and these were sold collectively as Slow Food pasil. Now, they are actually selling their own goods, enjoying their sales first hand, says Municipal Administrator Milagros Batalao.
In total, all barangays and the Pasil Slow Food generated P488,562 in sales. Dangtalan recorded the highest sale with P241,955; Slow Food with P84,070; Magsilay with P44,873; Cagaluan with P67,659; Colayo/Balatoc with P36,595; and Balinciagao Norte with P13,410. The figure is based on the data shared by Dangiw.
Meanwhile, the municipality’s booth in the Agro-Fair where “Chong-ak” variety of rice, coffee, banana, wine, red rice, and cacao seeds, among other products were displayed and sold was able to generate P66,780 sales, according to the Municipal Agriculturist Jenelyn Massagan.
When combined, the overall sales of the town amounts to P555,342.
The officialdom of Pasil led by Mayor Alfredo “Chao-ig” Malannag Jr. expressed appreciation for the opportunity given to them by the provincial government. This way, they were able to aid local farmers in product promotion and marketing.
Provincial Tourism Officer Lorraine Ngao-i assured their full support to further bolster the first Indigenous Slow Food Community in the country.
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