ANTHONY B. SASIN, second nominee of party-list group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, has proposed the creation of a banana development institute in Mindanao that will look into the problems of the burgeoning export banana industry in the island.
Sasin said the proposed institute is important in facilitating the propagation and development of more banana species for export, a strategic move vital to the economy of the country and the creation of more jobs.
A consultant of the party-list TUCP, Sasin said TUCP would work for more government assistance to the industry which now supports he livelihood of about 200,000 workers and their respective families whose average membership is six persons.
At the moment, he said “the Cavendish banana exports industry alone generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues, sustaining the livelihood of millions and supporting local economies during the last three decades.”
“One amazing fact about the industry is that it has existed and expanded during the last 40 years virtually without government financial assistance and preferential treatment in the form of tax holidays and other special privileges,” he said.
Encouraged by the industry’s phenomenal growth and unlimited demand for bananas worldwide, neighboring nations are now slowly developing their own industry or luring banana multinationals to locate in their vast agricultural lands.
Aside from a growing more aggressive competition, Sasin admitted “there is also need to shield the industry and the legions who depend on it from those who use it in advancing their misguided causes.”
