Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _____ 
Introduced by REP. JOSE FRANCISCO “KIKO” B. BENITEZ, Ph.D. 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Agriculture is the backbone of the Philippine economy, being a major source of 
employment – 27% of our labor force are working in the sector in 2015.1 However, the share 
of agriculture in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been declining over the 
years – from 27.4% in 1974 to just 9.7% in 2016.2 Farmers and fisherfolk are also the poorest 
segments of the population – at 31.6% poverty incidence among farmers in 2018, and 26.2% 
among fisherfolk.3 
Recognizing this, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in his first State of the Nation 
Address, committed to strengthen agriculture and pledged higher investments in infrastructure 
in the agricultural value chain to increase productivity and profits. “Itataas natin ang 
produksyon ng mga kalakal at produktong pang-agrikultura. At para magawa ito, pagtitibayin 
natin ang tinatawag na value chain na nagsisimula sa mga magsasaka hanggang sa namimili,” 
President Marcos Jr. said.  
This presidential pronouncement signals continuity in government policy to facilitate and 
enhance access of farmers and fisherfolk to markets. Crafted by the previous administration, 
the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 remains instructive; it outlines the need for 
efficient transport and logistics systems to link production areas to markets and recommends 
“the establishment/construction of sufficient and strategically located facilities such as 
wholesale food terminals and trading centers, warehouses, cold storage and refrigeration 
facilities, mobile storage, mobile marketplaces, rolling stores, foodbanks, and processing 
facilities that are linked with an interconnected transport system to ensure the continuous flow 
of A&F goods and services.” 
Several studies support this PDP recommendation. A SEARCA study on fruit and 
vegetable value chains in the Philippines articulates the importance of developing post-harvest, 
processing and marketing facilities. A DOST-PCAARRD study on post-pandemic agricultural 
supply chain also suggests re-engineering regional warehousing and cold chains for 
agricultural produce.  
“To support the long haul of agricultural products and reduce wastage from perishables, 
there should be a system of warehousing and delivery accessible to the farms via different 
1  Briones,  Roehlano.  2017.  Characterization  of  Agricultural  Workers  in  the  Philippines.  Quezon  City:  
Philippine  Institute  of  Development  Studies.  
2  Ibid.  
3  Department  of  Agriculture 
August 31, 2022
4:15 pm
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forms of collaboration among the local government, the private sector, and the farmers 
themselves…This warehouse system will serve as the venue for local farmers and fisherfolk to 
bring in and store their produce to be delivered to or picked up by wholesalers, retailers, and 
institutional buyers,” the DOST-PCAARRD study said. 
Clearly, we need an integrated system to bring agricultural commodities to wider 
markets, which requires adequate infrastructure and coordination at different points in the 
agricultural value chain. This bill introduces the hub-and-spoke model that directly connects 
producers or aggregators from local food terminals to a single apex location thereby creating 
agglomeration economies for agricultural commodities. 
Considering that the 1987 Constitution mandates the State to provide support to 
marketing agricultural products (Art. XIII, Sec. 5), it is our duty to craft legislation that will 
cause the establishment of agricultural trading centers that will serve as terminal markets for 
agricultural goods, and will contribute to building resilient food systems and ensuring growth 
of agriculture.  
In view of the foregoing, the immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
JOSE FRANCISCO “KIKO” B. BENITEZ 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _____ 
Introduced by REP. JOSE FRANCISCO “KIKO” B. BENITEZ, Ph.D. 
AN ACT 
MANDATING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AGRICULTURAL TRADING CENTERS 
IN EVERY PROVINCE, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER 
PURPOSES  
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled:  
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This act shall be known as the “Bagsakan ng Bayan Markets 
Act”. 
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policies. -  It is hereby declared the policy of the State to give 
aid to farmers by providing venue to promote and market their produce and giving them access 
to buyers who can offer competitive prices. Toward this end, a comprehensive program for the 
creation, management and operation of integrated local agricultural trading network is hereby 
established.  
The goal of these centers is to provide an avenue where farmers and livestock raisers can 
directly sell their products to institutional buyers and gain higher profit; moreover, this 
endeavor for a higher mobility for locally produced agricultural products to the whole country 
for cheaper cost of transportation. 
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. – For purposes of this Act: 
(a) Agricultural trading center refers to a site for trading of agricultural
commodities in large quantities, usually at or near transportation hubs within or
near to major cities, supplied by assembly markets in rural areas or directly from
farms;
(b) Transportation hub refers to a place that facilitates multimodal transportation,
or freight and passenger transfers between transport modes;
(c) Perishable agricultural commodities refer to agricultural products that, because
of their inherent qualities or dependence upon conditions of soil or weather,
mature, decompose, decay or deteriorate and undergo material changes of form
and quality that render them unsuitable for the use for which they were
produced;
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(d)  Non-perishable food products refer to food products that are processed or 
packaged for prolonged storage;  
 
(e)  Comparative advantage refers to the ability to produce a good for a lower 
opportunity cost; 
 
(f)   Assembly market refers to rural or town markets, normally situated on main 
highways connecting rural-urban centers and near to local transport interchange 
points; 
 
(g)  Ripening room refers to a facility where environmental conditions, such as 
temperature, relative humidity, and concentration of ethylene, oxygen and 
carbon dioxide, may be modified to control the ripening process of fruits; 
 
(h)  Cold storage refers to an insulated facility designed to maintain an artificially 
generated temperature or range of temperatures used to store temperature-
sensitive and perishable agricultural commodities or food items to preserve food 
quality, ensure food safety, and prevent deterioration or decay; 
 
(i)   Sorting and grading line refers to a manual or mechanical system used to sort 
agricultural products into categories on the basis of weight, size, shape, surface 
color, firmness, and other qualities; 
 
(j)   Throughput capacity refers to the volume of cargo discharged and loaded at an 
Agricultural Trading Center over a given period. 
 
SEC. 4. Establishment of Agricultural Trading Centers. - The Department of 
Agriculture, in coordination with local government units, shall establish, manage and operate 
at least one (1) Agricultural Trading Center in every province to be called Bagsakan ng Bayan 
Markets, subject to the following standards:  
 
(a)  The Agricultural Trading Center shall be adjacent to a transportation hub within 
the jurisdiction of the province concerned; 
 
(b)  The commodities to be traded in the Agricultural Trading Center shall be limited 
to perishable agricultural commodities, inter alia, fruits, vegetables, flowers, 
spices, herbs, medicinal plants, meat products, poultry products, dairy products, 
and fish and marine products; Provided, That non-perishable food products may 
also be traded in the Agricultural Trading Center but the volume of the same shall 
not exceed 30% of the throughput capacity of the Agricultural Trading Center; 
Provided, further, That the Agricultural Trading Center shall prioritize and 
specialize in trading agricultural commodities produced with comparative 
advantage in the province; 
 
(c)  The Agricultural Trading Center shall provide adequate facilities and support 
infrastructure such as parking space, warehouse, ripening room, cold storage, 
sorting and grading line, or similar facilities; 
 


(d)  The Department of Agriculture shall transfer the management and operation of 
the Agricultural Trading Center to the Provincial Government within two (2) 
years after its construction through a Memorandum of Agreement;  
 
SEC. 5. Province-wide Hub-and-Spoke Trading Network. – The Department of 
Agriculture and local government units shall establish backward and forward linkages with the 
Agricultural Trading Center through an integrated province-wide hub-and-spoke trading 
network with the Agricultural Trading Center as the central point, and Barangay Food 
Terminals and Municipal Food Terminals as assembly markets of agricultural commodities, 
and exporters, food processing plants, retail markets, restaurants and households as end users. 
 
SEC.  6. Work Plan. - In line with this Act, the Department of Agriculture shall develop 
the following:  
 
(a)  A plan of bringing the program down to the grassroots, utilizing available 
personnel and facilities on the local level and those of LGUs;  
 
(b)  A pattern of cooperation and mutual assistance with LGUs, Peoples 
Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations, which will maximize 
people empowerment and participatory approaches to program formulation, 
implementation and monitoring; and  
 
(c)  A schedule of short-term, medium-term and long-term targets on research and 
development, marketing, trade promotion/initiatives, capacity building, among 
others.  
 
SEC.  7. Funding. - The amount of Twenty-Five billion pesos (P25,000,000,000) is 
hereby appropriated for the initial year of implementation of this act, thereafter, the amount of 
Ten billion pesos (P10,000,000,000) shall be included in the budget of the Department for 
implementation and continued expansion of this program. In addition, the establishment and 
operation of terminals and centers will be made with the available participatory funding from 
the national government with adequate equity from the Local Government Units.  
 
SEC. 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations - Within thirty (30) days from the 
effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Interior and Local 
Government, in consultation with appropriate government agencies and other stakeholders, 
shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to implement this Act.  
 
SEC. 9. Separability Clause. – If any provision of this Act is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity and effectivity of the other provisions 
hereof 
 
SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. – All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and regulations, 
which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended or 
modified accordingly. 
 
SEC. 11. Effectivity Clause. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. 
 
Approved,