SMC unveils seafood processing program for Taliptip residents

*_{Artist’s rendering of the planned Bulacan airport.}*

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) on Thursday said it rolled out a new community-based training program for former residents of Barangay Taliptip in Bulakan town in Bulacan.

Part of the master plan for SMC’s airport project is to transform the host province, Bulacan, into a seafood capital of the country and provide the means to allow it to flourish.

The courses include bangus deboning, tinapa-making, boneless tilapia and lumpia 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,” San Miguel President and COO Ramon S. Ang said.

“Today, most of the major fish ports and seafood industries are located in nearby areas like Navotas, Malabon. But Bulacan can be like them, too. 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 can become their major local industry.”

Some 44 participants have benefitted from the first two batches of seafood processing courses, while 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 San Miguel.

Many of the participants have also previously graduated from vocational courses funded by the company under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

“We are encouraged by their willingness to learn more skills and this only shows that they want to improve their lives, with our help. As we promised them before, when we first helped them to build new homes, we will make sure they also have the capability to earn more income,” Ang said.