SMC to start seafood processing program for Bulacan residents

MANILA, Philippines — Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. will start a seafood processing program for former residents of Barangay Taliptip, where the P734-billion international airport will soon rise.

SMC said the program is aimed at boosting the local seafood industry and providing additional livelihood opportunities for relocatees.

Under the program, SMC will teach Taliptip relocatees seafood processing techniques to allow them to maximize their income potential and help develop the local industry.

These include bangus deboning, tinapa making, boneless tilapia and lumpiang shanghai making, as well as bangus and shrimp fry production.

“This is an industry that many of our Taliptip families are quite familiar with, because many of them used to work at fishponds. But we wanted to teach them new ways to maximize their income, and that is to turn seafood into value-added products,” SMC president and COO Ramon Ang said.

“This community project is a small start. Initially, residents aim to just cater to the local market and their local establishments. But if more residents and locals really go into it, it can become their major local industry,” he said.

So far, some 44 participants have benefitted from the first two batches of seafood processing courses. Meanwhile, another 40 to 50 relocatees are already earning from the ongoing bangus and shrimp fry production training under a local fishpond operator in cooperation with SMC.

Apart from seafood processing courses, other community-based training courses on tap are baking and pastries, as well as beads and accessories making.

The community-based skills training program is the latest assistance provided by SMC to former Taliptip settlers. This is on top of financial assistance that allowed 277 families to build their own homes or purchase property in Bulacan or their home provinces.