By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay (PNA)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — First class fish species, such as tuna and blue marlin caught in this province, are being sold at a higher price in Boracay Island in Aklan since its reopening last month.
Edilberto Jabile, president of the Dalipe Tradetown Market Vendors Association, Inc,, in an interview on Thursday, said fish merchants from the resort island come to Dalipe town daily to purchase fish stocks since last week of October.
“There are around three to five ‘por mayor’ (fish merchants) from Boracay who come to Dalipe daily to buy wholesale the first-class fish supplies,” he said.
He said these merchants usually offer higher prices and buy in volume that their 150 local vendors at Dalipe are enticed to sell their goods to them.
“The local fish vendors could sell tuna and blue marlin for PHP230 to PHP250 per kilo to Boracay merchants, which is higher than what they could sell in retail to the (local) consumers,” Jabile said.
The retail prices of these fishes when sold to local consumers range from PHP180 to PHP230 per kilogram.
“The Boracay merchants also buy in volume depending on how much they would need to supply restaurants and hotels,” he said.
In an interview Friday, San Jose de Buenavista Mayor Elmer Untaran appealed to fish merchants and vendors to be considerate of local consumers.
Untaran said he will discuss with Municipal Economic Enterprise and Development Officer Darcy Bunga on Monday measures to undertake to ensure there would be enough supply left for consumers in the local market.
