Eduardo Pontaoe
20 Dec 2007

 

 

Mr. John Bolinas:

I did not say I am an exporter. I did say I’m familiar with its peculiarities, the quirkiness, the razzle-dazzle of it all.

I am talking from experience, and for that, a few trees I can talk about. From this perspective, I know unequivocally for a fact, that export of Pangasinan mangoes and all the produce of the adjacent provinces are controlled by consignatories . . . hired guns for the Chinese exporters.

For confirmation, check the activity behind the PNB in Dagupan early in the morning. That’s where the exercise is made, where bangus coming from western Pangasinan, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal and Dagupan is unloaded, bought and sold by the boatloads by consignatories. Be aware no significant Chinese fooling around. Why should they dirty their hands when Filipinos can do the heavy lifting?

It’s not a hidden occurrence the export of Philippine goods from shrimp paste, dried fish, salted fish, frozen maronggay and pepper leaves to what have you, is done by Chinese conglomerates. There’s no significant competition. They have it so tight, it looks like a galactic black hole – an economic infinity that Filipinos cannot escape or challenge.

Don’t get me wrong. Your enthusiasm of jumping into the action is well taken. But there was a precedent wherein a few stout Filipinos tried to walk thru the fire . . . they got burnt. It happened in your place Toronto. They tested importing frozen bangus. From a few boxes to be distributed to the Filipino communities and some Asian stores. It went alright until they went over their heads. To strike it rich, they ordered from the exporter a container load.

And this is where they hit a brick wall. What was sent to them, a load of dirt tasting fish which got them biting the dust losing everything but their underwear. The octopus struck at the competition. No mercy!

With the WTO, NAFTA, America is wide open. What you have in Toronto, we do have that, too, in Chicago, except lanzones, an embargoed item from Cuba.

Maybe, you would say I am a fatalist, that it cannot be done. A pessimist who sees difficulty in every opportunity. There could not be an opportunity in a difficulty with semblance of opportunity, Mr. Bolinas.

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