• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Bacolod City government will soon collect entrance fees on all agri-fishery products, that shall be paid upon unloading, with the corresponding cash ticket to be issued by the city.
The imposition of an entrance fee on agricultural products to be distributed within Bacolod is pursuant to the ordinance establishing the Bacolod Food Terminal Complex and Cold Storage Facility in this highly-urbanized city, authored by Councilor Thaddy Sayson.
Pending the completion of the Food Terminal Complex, “vehicles carrying agricultural products entering the City of Bacolod may unload at Libertad, Burgos, Central, Sum-ag, and Granada public markets, provided, that the entrance fees based on Section 7 of this ordinance shall be charged for the unloading of the agricultural products,” Section 11 of the ordinance, approved on third and final reading by the Sangguniang Panlungsod June 24, states.
The collection of the fees shall be the responsibility of the City Treasurer or his/her representative, it said, adding that unloading of agricultural products at any other location within the city is strictly prohibited.
The Food Terminal Complex shall serve as a bagsakan center for wholesale or in-bulk agri-fishery products delivered by farmers and/or producers from Bacolod or nearby communities. “Within the premises of the complex, a cold storage facility shall also be established to provide proper storage and preservation of perishable agricultural and fishery products.”
Aside from the entrance fee, the ordinance also provides for the collection of an inspection fee of P100 on incoming agricultural products to ensure that they meet health, safety and quality standards, as established by the City Department of Agriculture, and shall be collected together with the entrance fee;
A space rental fee of P8 per square meter each day; and a cold storage fee of P0.25 per kilogram per day, for goods being stored in the cold storage facility. “The space rental fee shall be paid daily upon display of goods or merchandise, and upon occupying a temporary space in the Bacolod Food Terminal Complex.”
If a wholesaler or any farmer or vendor, who has already paid the corresponding fees, disposes his/her goods or merchandise to another vendor, the latter shall secure new cash tickets if he/she sells the same in the Bacolod Food Terminal Complex, states the ordinance that shall take effect after proper publication. | CGC
