‘PASALUBONG’ | Tourists will avoid queues but have to pay extra to take home the popular Good Shepherd ube and strawberry jams that are resold at stalls in the Baguio City public market and in other “pasalubong” (gift) shops around the summer capital. (Photo by EV ESPIRITU / Inquirer Northern Luzon)
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Tourists in this city are being granted priority access to the store of the Good Shepherd Convent to allow them to buy its ube (purple yam) jam and other products at the original price.
The move came following reports that Good Shepherd’s popular food products are being sold for almost twice the original price at different stores in the city and through online shopping platforms.
A source inside the convent’s Mountain Maid Training Center (MMTC), which produces the convent’s jams and pastries, confirmed on Thursday that resellers of their products were asked to “give way” to tourists who have been queuing for hours outside the convent near Mines View Park to buy the sweet treats as their pasalubong (gifts).
The convent’s famous ube jams are sold at the MMTC store for P350 per 24-ounce jar, but retailers are selling them for P600 a jar, the Inquirer learned.
According to the source, their ube jams are sold for between P480 and P550 per jar on online markets found on Facebook and on various online shopping platforms, such as Lazada and Shopee.
“We feel bad for the tourists and visitors who have been buying our products elsewhere at a very high price,” said the source, who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak to reporters about the matter.
The source added: “So, local resellers are being told to give way to tourists queuing to buy at our store.”
Following the government-imposed lockdown in March 2020, the production of Good Shepherd jams and pastries was abruptly halted.
BENEFICIARY | Sabel Paroway, a 24-year-old student from Mountain Province, is among the beneficiaries of an education program supported by the Good Shepherd nuns in Baguio City. (Photo by EV ESPIRITU / Inquirer Northern Luzon)
Long lines
But when the MMTC resumed producing its jams and pastries following the easing of COVID-19-related restrictions last year, buyers have been forced to line up outside the convent since only a few are allowed at its store at a time to maintain physical distancing.
Since 1952, the food-processing enterprise being managed by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd has been sending thousands of poor Cordillera youth to college every time a tourist buys one of the products made at the MMTC.
According to the Catholic nuns, about half of the revenue generated by the MMTC comes from the ube jam, while the rest is from other products, such as strawberry and fruit jams, peanut brittle, lengua de gato, and assorted cookies.