by admin | Jul 31, 2017 | Headlines
In its effort to further support Philippine brands in accessing the global market, the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Design Center of the Philippines recently held a design challenge for young design professionals dubbed as “Pick Pack Boom” at the exhibition hall of Design Center in Pasay City.
The one-day packaging design challenge urged young design professionals to develop and recreate sustainable and locally-sourced recycled and sustainable packaging materials for the two world-renowned Philippine brands namely, Human Nature and Malagos Chocolates.
Participants developed a prototype for Human Nature’s bath soap bar and Malagos’ Chocolates’ gift bag that took into consideration the concept of sustainable design. With the celebration of the World Industrial Design Day, the event also served as a support of the Design Center in this year’s theme and focus on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #12 of “Responsible Consumption and Production.”
The design challenge featured Anna Meloto-Wilk from Gandang Kalikasan Inc., which produces Human Nature and Rex Puentespina of the Malagos Chocolates. Wilk and Puentespina both shared their respective brands, social entrepreneurship thrusts, and their local to global business narratives.
The event included design sprint sessions, which tested participants’ ideation and design skills for the prototyping competition. The best prototypes included an origami concept, integrating konyaku as a material to protect and reinforce the packaging for Human Nature’s bar bath soap; and the graphic storytelling of Malagos’ tree-to-bar single origin cacao, incorporating the terroir elements for the Malagos Chocolates gift pack. All prototypes developed during the session will be turned over to Human Nature and Malagos for further development.
The Design Center of the Philippines is a member of the World Design Organization (WDO), and is committed to the use of design as a tool for improving the quality and competitiveness of Philippine products.
The WDO, formerly known as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), is an international non-governmental organization that promotes the profession of industrial design and its ability to generate better products, systems, services, and experiences; better business and industry; and ultimately a better environment and society.
by admin | Jul 30, 2017 | Local News / Bohol Balita
By JUNE S. BLANCO
REP. Erico Aristotle Aumentado of Bohol’s 2nd District is bullish on producing energy from residual waste.
He met last week with a waste-to-energy expert to discuss where and how his constituency can participate.
Aumentado said waste-to-energy calls for the segregation of waste. Biodegradable waste can be fodder for biomass energy, or at least, can be turned into organic fertilizer. But, the solon quoted the expert, residuals can be turned into energy as well.
This, the solon said, is where his constituents can be motivated to better implemented Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Act.
Waste-to-energy is a two-pronged approach to contribute to mitigating climate change, he explained.
On top of pushing for zero waste at the household level, turning residuals to power means less bulk for landfills, savings in tipping fees and contribution to the longer lifespans of sanitary landfills.
The solon noted that once landfills are filled to capacity, a local government unit (LGU) operating it must look for another site to contain residual waste. Bohol may be the country’s tenth largest island, but it does not have the luxury of space.
Aumentado said Bohol is basically agricultural and ecological. In order to feed the people, landfills and space-intensive solar panels must not compete for space with agricultural lands and the imperative forest cover. After all, he said, agriculture and tourism are the province’s economic drivers.
Power generated from residuals, the solon said, will also be the 2nd District’s contribution to locally-generated energy.
Aumentado pointed out that only the power industry approves of, and even requires redundancy. This is so that business will not come to a standstill when one source experiences breakdowns like what happened to the Tongonan Geothermal Power Plant in Leyte following the recent 6.5 earthquake and before that, Typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
Leyte is Bohol’s main power source. Unless the latter produces more locally-generated power, it will always endure long rotational blackouts, he explained.
The downside to this is the slowing down of business, especially tourism, due to higher overhead costs in operation. After all, in most cases, water distribution is also dependent on power.
Aumentado has broached the topic to the 2nd District mayors in one of their meetings at the Quest Hotel in Cebu City. He said the mayors have committed their support to the waste-to-energy project by more stringent implementation of RA 9003.
by admin | Jul 29, 2017 | DTI Updates, Features
TAGBILARAN CITY, July 28, (PIA)–The five day Sandugo regional products showcase better known now as Sandugo Trade Expo closed off Sunday capping a total sales of P12,278,357.00 in five days of selling by some 94 small and medium enterprises from at least six regions.
First started as Bohol Products Trade Fair, the event which has drawn national and international buyers has now gathered the best showcase of the regions which include processed foods, homestyle gifts and toys, furniture, fashion accessories and other crafted products, according to Department of Trade and Industry trade and industry development specialist Blair Panong.
The trade expo coincides with the annual celebration of Boholano brand of friendship celebrated in the July Sandugo Festival which commemorates the historic blood compact between Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Boholano chieftain Sikatuna.
Romping out as topsellers during the trade expo exhibited at the Island City Mall between July 19 to 23, were Cebu’s Maexel Chi-cha bites and Snack Food with P271,530 in cash sales for processed foods, Cebu’s GTH Foundation Inc., OTOP Store and Tindahang Pinoy with P797,000 in cash and under negotiations sales.
For furniture, Region 8’s Naty’s Antique Furniture closed some P829,000.00 in cash and under negotiations sales upon the exhibit’s egress Sunday.
With the Trade expo adopting green economic development themes since three years ago, organizers also handed a special Green Product Award to TAGBTIC.
TAGBITIC is a Tagbilaran City based garbage up-cycling group composed of women groups from Cogon and whose products include recycled plastic and dried leaf materials crafted into home items and accessories
No less than DTI Regional Director Asteria Caberte, Bohol OIC-PD Marisol Balistoy and the newly crowned Miss Bohol 2017, Ms. Pauline Amelinckx handed the awards and citations during the highlights of the expo closing ceremonies.
The DTI, which has been largely involved in the new products diversification and development as well as training workers on production efficiency and greening the value chains said in the expo in Bohol, pushes forward the new products crafted after the DTI handed Shared Service Facilities and cascaded product design development trainings.
Largest groups at the expo are Bohol with 34 exhibitors: Cebu with 32, Negros with 10 and Siquijor with 4 for a total of 80.
Five other exhibitors come from Region 8, including furniture top seller Naty’s Antiques, another 5 more from region 13 (Agusan and Surigao) which brought in processed food.
From Region 11 is Davao del Norte brining in processed food and non-food items.
Each from region 18 (Negros Island region) and Region 6 had one exhibitor.
Presenting the Trade Expo Products which banner the theme “Partnering and Engaging for Change”, the DTI put up a creatively conceptualized “Exquisitely Visayas” fashion show.
According to Panong, models from Cebu and Bohol featured the creations of respected designers in the region while as the models took to the catwalks, fashion accessories picked from participating exhibitors embellished and accessorized them, Panong explained. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
DTI BOHOL OIC Maria Soledad Balistoy, RD Asteria Caberte and Miss Bohol posed with TAGBTIC who was awarded the Green Product Award, as the 12th Regional Trade expo struggles to carve a path to green economic development. (PIA-7/Bohol/Photo by DTI)
by admin | Jul 29, 2017 | Tech Talk
A nascent mobile game producer from Bohol has released a new title: Tarsier A CUTE!, now available on Google Play.
Its casual puzzle gameplay was designed around the concept of conservation, the aim being to increase the population of the endangered Philippine Tarsier. In the game the male tarsier must avoid dangers to reach the female; if successful a baby is produced. This makes the scoring revolve around the count of babies, critters that can be viewed jumping around in the title screen.
Notably, 50% of in-app purchases from the Game will be donated to the Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc.. They run a successful eight hectare sanctuary in Corella, Bohol.
The concept of the game was first brought into being at a two day Game Development workshop held by BCITC, BIPC and Techtalks.ph in June. The instructors, Ben and Mariel, with help from with the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary, polished the resulting game. The game devs hope to commercialize their work under the brand ‘Two Reelers’. In addition to producing original titles they offer game development services to clients who have a concept but need help with making it a reality. They can be contacted at
info@tworeelers.com.
The Game can be downloaded free from Google Play for Android and will be available for the iPhone sometime in August.
by admin | Jul 28, 2017 | Major Events
The Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC), the training arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), recently conducted a total of 23 free seminars geared towards enhancing MSME’s managerial and technological capabilities during SME Week held on July 18-19, 2017 at the PTTC grounds.
With the theme “Moving Towards Skilled, Market-Driven and Engaged MSMEs”, the two-day event was attended by about 367 MSMEs. After participating in the UREKA Forum, 24 signed up for Shopinas, an online store of Philippine products, and an additional 15 after attending the seminar on “Doing Business in E-marketplaces.”
This positive response from the MSMEs is an indication that by providing them free and easy access to information, entrepreneurs are ready and willing to digitize their business. As DTI Assistant Secretary Rosvi C. Gaetos emphasized in her opening remarks, “PTTC’s role and commitment in providing various training programs is to help MSMEs catapult into the global markets with the overarching goal of transforming them into global business entrepreneurs”.
Asst. Secretary Gaetos also said that MSMEs act as the nursery and breeding ground of entrepreneurship and innovation, significantly contributing to employment and livelihood which account to a major share of industrial growth in exports.
MSME participants from various industries who attended seminars and trainings during the two-day event at the PTTC in celebration of the SME Week Free Seminars held on July 18-19, 2017.
