Cadiz City in Negros Occidental distributed 1,000 rattan-made baskets under the \u201cBalik Alat” program as part of the ongoing 2026 Dinagsa Festival Fiesta Fair.<\/p>\n
The northern Negros city promotes the \u201cBalik Alat,\u201d which translates to bringing back the native basket in Hiligaynon, in strengthening its commitment to environmental protection and in compliance with the ordinance regulating the use of single-use plastics.<\/p>\n
City Agriculturist Jocelyn Say said on Thursday the ceremonial handover of the baskets to Cadiznons during the fair opening on Jan. 19 fulfills the vision of Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is, to empower communities, reduce waste, and promote sustainability. Bringing back the basket revives our culture and creates a greener future together for Cadiz,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
City Ordinance 13-2021, which regulates the use, sale, or provision of plastic bags and other single-use plastics in Cadiz, was fully enforced starting Oct. 1, 2025, according to the City Environment and Natural Resources Office.<\/p>\n
Negros Occidental OIC Provincial Agriculturist Dina Genzola, who graced this year\u2019s Dinagsa Festival Fiesta Fair launch, welcomed the \u201cBalik Alat Program\u201d that uses indigenous resources and highlights skills of indigenous people who make the native baskets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Office of the Provincial Agriculturist is grateful for a platform like this to support the campaign regulating the use of single-use plastics,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Genzola also lauded the staging of the fair as it empowers the local agri-fishery sector, opens doors for livelihood, and promotes enterprise growth that allows farmers to become \u201cagripreneurs\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than a showcase and promotion of products, it is a testament to the resilience and hard work of our local communities through the Kadiwa ng Pangulo,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The 2026 Dinagsa Festival Fiesta Fair, which runs until Jan. 23 at the Cadiz City Park, features locally made food products, agricultural produce and handicrafts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city government continues to strengthen the agricultural sector and support farmers, fisherfolk, cooperatives, and micro, small, and medium enterprises through its various initiatives,\u201d Escalante said in a statement.<\/p>\n
In this year\u2019s Dinagsa Festival Fiesta Fair, the city government partners with the Kadiwa ng Pangulo, a program that implements a farm-to-consumer market chain to eliminate intermediaries, allowing local producers to generate higher income by selling their produce directly to consumers. (PNA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reusable baskets were positioned as everyday alternatives to plastics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sustainability"],"zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":{"nxtgen_comments":[{"1561":"hindi lang bawal, may alternatibo talaga \u2764\ufe0f\r","1562":"hindi lang produkto, pati kwento at kultura ang dala \ud83c\udf3e\r","1563":"cultural pride plus sustainability works well \u2764\ufe0f\r","1564":"programs like this deserve more attention \ud83d\udc4f\r"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greeninc.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}