La Trinidad lockdown temporarily halts vegetable shipments

Vegetable shipments from La Trinidad, Benguet were temporarily suspended after the local government placed the entire town on lockdown due to the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

According to Tina Panganiban-Perez’s Tuesday report on “24 Oras,” the town had two cases of COVID-19 — a 6-year-old girl and a 34-year-old female.

Both were in stable condition at the Benguet General Hospital.

Mayor Romeo Salda thus canceled all travel permits and closed the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post from March 30 to 31 to disinfect the town and conduct contact tracing for those who may have interacted with the two patients.

The lockdown meanwhile limited vegetable deliveries to Metro Manila resulting in a price surge on produce.

“Bukas wala raw dating. Mataas lalo na ‘yong mga gulay tagalog, mataas masyado,” Gen Laurente, a vendor at Muñoz Market, said.

Before the enhanced community quarantine, she said her capital was P50 per kilo, but now it reached P90 pesos per kilo.

Meanwhile, meat vendors also said the enhanced community quarantine resulted in limited meat products in some markets in the metropolis.

“Gumagawa na lang kami ng paraan para makakuha ng ititinda namin so humahango hango kami sa ibang palengke,” one of the vendors said.

From earning P2,000 per day, he was down to a little more than P1,000.

The Luzon-wide quarantine will last until April 13.

The country has so far recorded a total of 2,084 cases of COVID-19 including 88 fatalities and 49 recoveries. — Ma. Angelica Garcia/DVM, GMA News