Philippine Dole’s 7 metric ton Sweetio banana arrive USA as first imported highland Cavendish from Asia

Photo from official account of Philippine Embassy in the United States. @philippinesusa.

The Philippines has officially become the first Asian country to export bananas to the United States, with the first shipment of the highland Cavendish variety from Bukidnon arriving at the Port of Long Beach last week.

"We're excited to see our very own bananas in grocery stores in California soon," Consul General Hellen Barber-de la Vega told the Inquirer after she inspected the products at the ripening warehouse on Sunday (Manila time). "We waited eight years for this to happen."

The bananas are scheduled to be delivered to large retailers—including the giant supermarket chain Albertson's and specialty stores Trader Joe's and Whole Foods—as early as this Friday (Saturday in Manila), De la Vega said. "We're just waiting for confirmation from the distributor."

Seven metric tons of the bananas arrived on Sept. 9 at Long Beach in Los Angeles County as part of the 3,000 metric tons the US plans to import from the Philippines this year, the Philippine Embassy said in a statement.

"With this shipment, we are hopeful that Philippine bananas would be able to find and satisfy a niche in the competitive US banana market," Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said.

The Philippines first sought access to the US market eight years ago, according to Agriculture Attaché Dr. Josyline Javelosa.

"Philippine bananas are among the best in the world and there is an opportunity to bring in the unique and special banana varieties like lakatan and latundan which Filipinos in the United States have long been craving and which Americans can learn to love," said Javelosa.

The highland bananas, marketed in the United States under the Sweetio brand, were exported by Dole Philippines to Dole Food Company Inc. and were shipped from the Mindanao International Container Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, on Aug. 20.

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US President Obama to visit ASEAN in October 6-12 Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines

US President Barack Obama will make his first trip to the Philippines in October, the White House announced.

In a statement on Friday, September 13, the office of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said: "The President will travel to Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines from October 6-12 as part of his ongoing commitment to increase U.S. political, economic and security engagement with the Asia Pacific." 

Manila will be Obama's last stop. He will first attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders in Bali, then the US-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Brunei, and meet with Prime Minister Najib in Malaysia. 

"The President will then travel to the Philippines, the fifth Asian treaty ally he has visited during his presidency," the statement said. 

"He will meet with President Aquino to reaffirm the strong economic, people-to-people, and security links between our two countries," it said. 

Malacañang Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Obama will be Manila October 11-12 "upon the invitation of [His Excellency] President Benigno S Aquino."

The two presidents will "discuss ways to further strengthen the enduring Philippines-US alliance including the expansion of our security, economic and people to people ties," the Palace said. 

Obama's visit comes as Washington and Manila negotiate an agreement that will allow increased rotational presence of American troops in the Philippines, and give them wider access to the country's military bases. It is forged amid tension between the Philippines and China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. 

Yet Filipino activists criticized the deal as a ploy to circumvent the constitutional ban on permanent bases. It is envisioned to be an executive agreement between the US and the Philippine departments of defense, and does not require Senate ratification unlike a treaty. 

In August, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also visited the Philippines and discussed the agreement with President Aquino. 

Obama's trip also coincides with his administration's so-called pivot to Asia, Washington's effort to re-balance its strategic priorities to the Asia-Pacific. 

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel first announced the trip when he visited Manila last month. 

"I spoke with the President and he is very much looking forward to his trip to Southeast Asia and I know that the White House is preparing for that and his meetings. There's a lot to discuss," Hagel said in a press briefing in Malacañang. 

The trip will be the 8th visit of an American president to the Southeast Asian nation. Obama is the 7th US leader to visit the Philippines, according to data from the US State Department: 

It is also Obama's first-ever visit to the Philippines. Born in Hawaii, the American President lived in nearby Indonesia as a child.

 

Sources: The White House, US Department of State and Rappler.com

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In the Know: Who’s who on Napoles list [Circuit for ₱10 Billion Pork Barrel Stealing]

Click the photo to have a closer look of these PIGS

Download: Full COA report on PDAF use

Here is a list of people allegedly involved in the Janet Lim-Napoles scam based on affidavits submitted by whistle-blowers and findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) reports of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM):

• Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. allowed his pork barrel to be used by the Napoles NGOs in 22 instances. In its special audit report released on Aug. 16, the COA found that Napoles NGOs received ₱413.29 million from Revilla's office from 2007 to 2009. According to 2012 reports by COA and the DBM, Revilla gave ₱20 million to Napoles NGOs in two towns.

• Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile allowed his pork barrel to be used by the Napoles NGOs in 21 occasions. The COA report found that Napoles NGOs received ₱332.7 million from Enrile's office from 2007 to 2009. According to 2012 reports by COA and DBM, Enrile gave ₱10 million to a Napoles NGO in one town.

• Sen. Jinggoy Estrada allowed his pork barrel to be used by the Napoles NGOs 18 times. The COA report found that Napoles NGOs received ₱191.58 million from Estrada's office from 2007 to 2009. According to 2012 reports by COA and DBM, Estrada gave ₱63 million to Napoles NGOs in four towns.

• Jessica Lucila "Gigi" Reyes, former chief of staff of  Enrile, was dubbed the "24th senator" as she signed checks in the millions on behalf of the then Senate President and issued memos to Senate functionaries involving the funds of the chamber. She resigned in December 2012 in the aftermath of the furor regarding the selective distribution of Christmas bonuses to senators by the then Senate President. A witness said that he and another employee delivered millions of pesos in cash to her house in La Vista, Quezon City. Whistle-blower Benhur Luy also tagged Reyes as one of Napoles' main contacts with Enrile's office along with Jose Antonio Evangelista.

• Jose Antonio Evangelista, identified as Enrile's deputy chief of staff, was tagged by whistle-blowers as one of Napoles' main contacts in Enrile's office. According to the whistle-blowers, Evangelista's role was to provide documentation to JLN.

• Ruby Tuason is the former social secretary of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. According to the witnesses, deliveries were made twice between 2009 and 2011 to her house in Dasmariñas Village in Makati City. The whistle-blowers also named Tuason as Napoles' conduit in the offices of Enrile and Senator Estrada. Luy's record also showed that Tuason received ₱60 million from JLN, but it was not clear whether she received it for Enrile or Estrada. 

• Pauline Labayen is the deputy chief of staff of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. According to Estrada's chief of staff, lawyer Raquel Mejia, Labayen is the appointments secretary of the senator. 

• Richard Cambe is Revilla's chief political adviser. He was identified as among the senior congressional staff members who served as conduits for channeling funds from the lawmaker to Napoles, according to whistle-blowers. In one of the sample transactions that the whistle-blowers' lawyer Levito Baligod furnished the media in August, it was revealed that Cambe received ₱9.5 million from JLN on April 11, 2007, drawn from a ₱20-million project of Revilla in 2008.

• Rodolfo Plaza was Agusan del Sur representative from 2001 to 2010. Plaza was among the 28 lawmakers tagged by whistle-blowers to be among those who had allowed Napoles' dummy nongovernment organizations (NGOs) to use his pork barrel for purported ghost projects. According to affidavits filed in the National Bureau of Investigation, Plaza allowed his pork to be used nine times.

• Rizalina Seachon-Lanete represented Masbate's third district from 2004 to 2010. Lanete allowed her pork to be used 13 times by the Napoles NGOs.

• Samuel Dangwa was Benguet representative from 1987 to 1995, and from 2001 to 2010. Dangwa allowed his pork to be used eight times by Napoles NGOs.

• Edgar Valdez represented the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives from 2002 to 2010. According to whistle-blower Benhur Luy, state-owned National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC) received ₱30 million in 2009 and 2010 from Valdez's PDAF. NLDC was used as the conduit for around ₱1 billion of pork barrel funds by seven Napoles NGOs from 2008 to 2012.

• Prospero Pichay represented Surigao del Sur's first district from 1998 to 2007. Pichay has been identified as an "investment partner" in Asia Star Power Resources Corp., a coal trading firm controlled by the Napoles family.

 Source: Inquirer Archives

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