La Trinidad, Benguet exec blasts Arroyo group, media for strawberry snafu

(Updated 4:29 a.m.) LA TRINIDAD, Benguet - A week has passed after a strawberry farmer billed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo P6,000 for the strawberries she and her entourage picked during the Holy Week, yet the cheeks of a local official here were still as red as the fruit. Municipal Agriculturist Felicidad Ticbaen, for one, was fuming mad not only against the farmer Ignacio Canuto but also against the presidential entourage and media. Ticbaen, however, admitted that the payment due to Canuto was delayed because there were government procedures that should be processed. She said that Canuto's relative should not have immediately complained on the radio about it. She also said that the amount billed to the Office of the President was more than what was actually picked. When the incident blew up, Ticbaen said they not only paid Canuto P7,600 for the two huge baskets of strawberries but also paid P3,000 for the lettuce also harvested by the presidential entourage at a neighboring farm in Betag village. She said that it was Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan who asked them to pay Canuto upon orders of a staff of the President. Ticbaen said that President Arroyo and her granddaughters picked only a handful of strawberries for the photo opportunity. "Her entourage did most of the picking," she said. She did not say if the President would again pick strawberries next Holy Week as she had always did for the past four years. - GMANews.TV