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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. 691 
Introduced by REP. JAVIER MIGUEL “JAVI” L. BENITEZ 
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, 
1 Briones, Roehlano. 2017. Characterization of Agricultural Workers in the Philippines. 
Quezon City: Philippine Institute of Development Studies. 
2 Ibid. 
3 Department of Agriculture 
July 1, 2025
8:04 am


 
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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 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. 
 
 
 
JAVIER MIGUEL L. BENITEZ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. 691 
Introduced by REP. JAVIER MIGUEL “JAVI” L. BENITEZ 
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


 
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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; 
 
(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 


 
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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;  
 


 
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(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,