Maniolas

FOR 35 YEARS, Margarita Rola and her husband, Juanito, would set up makeshift stalls at the public market in Aguilar town in Pangasinan province three times a week to sell tomatoes and bell peppers harvested from their garden in the upland tribal community of Mapita in Barangay Laoag. They would hitch on cramped passenger jeepneys or trucks that transported the produce of other farmers from their village for the one-hour ride to town. But on their way back, the Rolas would often hike uphill for four to five hours, most of the time carrying the tomatoes and bell peppers that were not bought. The village, where some 1,000 indigenous residents belonging to the Kankanaey, Ibaloy and Bago tribes had settled in the 1960s, is nestled in a 496-hectare rolling terrain of the Zambales mountain range, about 15 kilometers from the town. The villagers till some 150 hectares of land surrounding the settlement, planting rice, corn, vegetables and root crops. “It was very hard for us then,” said Rola, 57. “People in the market would buy our produce for P2 or P3 a kilo, and we still had to take home what we were not able to sell. We earned barely enough for us to buy our basic needs for the day.” But in 2011, Rola and 23 other vegetable farmers in the village stopped setting up makeshift stalls at the market. In January that year, they boarded a rented truck to deliver their harvest to the Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Car sales should continue to accelerate this year as domestic economic growth remains robust, the research arm of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. said. “Expect the automotive industry to have another banner year this 2015 as economic prospects continue to be positive,” Mabellene Reynaldo, research analyst at Metrobank, said in a recent report. “Manageable inflation and record-low oil prices are also expected to support demand. Additional spending may also be seen as the 2016 elections draws near,” she added. Latest government data showed Philippine economic growth slowed to 5.3 percent in the third quarter of last year from 6.4 percent in the second quarter. This brought the nine-month growth rate to 5.8 percent, below the government’s 6.5 to 7.5 percent target. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank, however, expect growth to pick up this year from last year’s performance. The IMF forecast economic expansion at 6.6 percent, while the World Bank sees it at 6.5 percent. Vehicle sales last year went up 30 percent to a record-high of 234,747 units from 181,283 in 2013, combined data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association Inc. (TMA) showed. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Sales of passenger cars climbed by 48 percent year-on-year in 2014 as new models were introduced and growing purchases in the small category. Robust income growth and low interest rates also fueled automotive demand,” Reynaldo said. “As of the end of third Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – One of the largest agriculture technology exhibitors in Thailand is holding a nine-day trade show in March featuring the latest solutions in animal industry, horticulture, and farm machinery. VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific Co., Ltd. will hold the AGRI-Food Business Week Asia at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) at the capital city of the neighboring Southeast Asian Nation from March 11 to 19. The trade show would be divided into three events: VIV Asia, which would showcase technologies for animal industry; Horti Asia, the show for horticultural solutions and Agri Asia, which would display farm machinery that covers the entire supply chain from pre-harvest to post-harvest. VIV Asia would be held from March 11 to March 13 while HortI Asi and Agri Asia would be held from March 17 to 19. In a recently-held press briefing, organizers said the trade show would showcase technologies and innovations from over 1,000 companies from 100 countries. The show is expected to bring together entrepreneurs from various countries such as Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and China among others. VIV Asia project manager Ruwan Berculo said several Philippine-based companies such as San Miguel Corporation are expected to send representatives to the event to view the latest technological advancements in agriculture.    Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Aside from the actual trade shows, visitors can also attend seminars related to the exhibited products and meet international industry experts.

It is simply amazing that days after the special Philippine Air Lines flight that carried Pope Francis took off from NAIA, the ‘Francis fever’ is still raging. The recent visit is still fodder for the daily television shows, particularly the news, and people still stay glued for anything about Pope Francis and how Filipinos’ lives were touched by the 78-year-old Pontiff whose smile has an uncharacteristic glint of playfulness unique to him. During the entire five-day visit, the leading networks picked out families who braved everything just to be physically present at the masses he officiated at the SM Mall of Asia or at the Quirino Grandstand. During the entire five-day holiday, we stayed home for a much-needed rest, nursing a nasty cold and cough, but we stayed glued to our TV set, hearing mass with the Pope on TV, one with literally millions of Filipinos struck with the Pope fever. At the mass at what was once known as the Independence Grandstand, we marveled at the well-behaved crowd and wondered how communion would go with the endless rows of people waiting and saw how the people in front would pass on the host to others behind them, by hand, so everyone could get accommodated. The communion alone must have taken about 20 minutes as so many lay ministers mingled with the mammoth crowd.  Pope Francis waited patiently at the altar until the last communicant had received the host. Such was the devotion and utter respect of the Filipinos, for Read More …