PILI, Camarines Sur (March 23, 2026)—President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., together with Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. and Camarines Sur Governor Luis Raymund Villafuerte,  led the ceremonial switching on of the Bicol Mega Cold Storage Warehouse, a flagship project of the Department of Agriculture that will boost food security and farmer incomes.

Funded with a P500 million investment, the sprawling refrigerated complex is the first completed project under the DA Cold Storage Expansion Program. It directly addresses a chronic gap in agriculture, the lack of reliable and energy efficient storage and transport systems.

Inside, temperature-controlled rooms are tailored for specific commodities such as pork, beef, poultry, fish, fruits, and vegetables. Each is stored at precise conditions to preserve quality from farm to market. The facility has a combined annual capacity exceeding 200,000 tons, benefiting tens of thousands of farmers and far more consumers.

Complementing cold storage are preparation rooms equipped for blast freezing, processing, and packaging. These services allow producers to extend shelf life, meet market standards, and command better prices.

As the Bicol mega cold storage facility powered up, it signaled the beginning of a modern and interconnected infrastructure system that is essential to securing the country’s food future. ###(By DA – OSEC Comms & photos by Eduardo Collantes Jr., RFO V-RAFIS)