Processing Plant on test run
DSPP INAUGURATION ON NOV. 29
THE PHL-Korea Dagupan Seafood Processing Plant in Dagupan City finally went on a test run last Friday, three days before its scheduled inauguration on Monday.
Funded by a more than P100 million grant provided last year by the Korean government through the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the facility is seen as a big boost to the aquaculture and deep-sea fishing industries of Dagupan and Pangasinan.
Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the Dagupan-based National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) who was designated by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) as concurrent interim manager of the facility, said the test run will help them determine any glitches in the machines and the whole processing system.
“We will know in this test run if the machines installed in this facility will perform according to their desired capacities and allow us to immediately correct any defects found,” he said.
The test run already tapped some of the trained manpower from Sitio Russia in Barangay Bonuan Binloc whose families were relocated to give way to the construction of the facility.
The facility is designed to process all seafood products but it will initially be handling milkfish (bangus), the main agricultural product in coastal Dagupan City and other areas near the Lingayen Gulf.
INAUGURATION
Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala will lead the inauguration on November 29 with Minister Yong Kim of the Korean Embassy, representing the Korean ambassador, and Kim Jinoh, KOIKA resident representative.
Others expected to attend are BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento, Rep. Gina de Venecia of the Fourth District, former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. former Rep. Conrado Estrella III and Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim who will deliver the welcome address.
The facility is now under the interim management of the BFAR through a memorandum of agreement it signed with then Dagupan City Mayor Alipio Fernandez following a resolution of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The agreement was approved in July by Alcala.
The interim management is for five years or until such time that Dagupan City can run the facility on its own.
A task force was created by BFAR to draft the operational manual for the facility to ensure that it produces quality products based on international standards to ensure the entry of these products to the world market, especially the United States and Japan.
Initially, the facility will try to export its products to the west coast of the United States where there are many Filipinos.
Rosario said the facility will apply for accreditation in world governing -bodies to pave the way for the easy entry of locally-processed products in the world market.–LM
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