Monday, April 03 2006
By Frank Cimatu - Philippine Daily Inquirer
CANDON CITY - What do you do when you have lots of damaged tobacco leaves?
During the recent tobacco festival here, Ephraim Dayap, National Tobacco Administration (NTA) supervisor for Candon, gathered all tobacco rollers in the city, created a pair of 50-
foot cigars and paraded them.
The cigars were so long yet so pliable that some watchers mistook them for a pair of pythons.
The cigars were the stars of the parade, followed by the dance troupe of 80 gay residents who called themselves the "Tropang Maton."
Wearing gold costumes under the sun, the group members did their "Carnival in Candon" impression though they failed to get major awards except the one for best costume.
To drum up support for tobacco farmers whose farms were damaged by heavy rains in January, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the NTA offered a P50-million loan for them.
Rep. Eric Singson, deputy speaker for Northern Luzon, said the loan would be used for the procurement of tobacco seedlings for the next planting season.
About P150 million was lost when heavy rains dampened the roots of tobacco plants, causing the leaves to droop. Most of the 2,000 hectares of tobacco farms affected are in the provinces second district.
Singson said many farmers eventually recovered by planting tobacco seedlings immediately after the rains, while some planted corn.
He said he asked LBP officials to expand the coverage of the farmers' loans to include financial assistance for those who might want to apply for overseas jobs. He said the applicants should be among the affected tobacco farmers.
Candon Mayor Allen Singson said the city would go for the Guinness World Record for the longest cigar made by a single cigar maker. The current record is held by a Cuban farmer, Jose Castelar Cayro, who made a 20.42-meter cigar last year.
Candon is also vying for the Guinness nod for the largest calamay or rice cake which the residents presented last week.
Grace Lapastora, Department of Trade and Industry provincial director, said the giant calamay weighed 2,547 kilos, and was made from 200 gantas of ground glutinous rice or diket, 1,200 kilograms of brown sugar, and meat from 2,000 coconuts.
This is heavier than the 2,097-kilo traditional rice cake made by the city of Niigata in Japan two years ago.
Source: IQ7.net
