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Archive for January, 2009

Netvision pioneers a first in webTV history; Watch ‘The Dream Match’ live on your PC

January 14, 2009 at 10:28 pm · Filed under Industries, Technology, marketing and tagged: , , ,

 

11/30/2008

Netvision, a Philippine-based web TV company, breaks the boundaries of traditional television by offering “The Dream Match,” the most-awaited boxing event this year, live via the Internet. The match, which pits Oscar de la Hoya against Manny Pacquiao, will be live-streamed on the Netvision site on Dec. 6 (Dec. 7, 8 p.m. at GMT +8:00) in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Macau, Vietnam and Cambodia. Priced at $14.95, the Internet-broadcast of the bout will be streamed in TV quality. This will be one of the first major web streams in the world which covers multiple countries.

Web TV has been changing the broadcasting landscape with its ability to reach a diverse audience all over the world and give them more viewing options. Video-over-Internet is fast becoming a cost-effective and more flexible alternative to traditional terrestrial and satellite TV because it does away with the need for the expensive infrastruc ture that traditional, satellite or even cable TV require.

And, because of broadband access and constant progress of video compression technologies, consumers now want more control over their entertainment — they want to be able to choose what they want to watch, when they want to watch it and where they want to watch it. Now, the technology is here for consumers to be able to do just that.

Netvision has already set a foothold in the webTV industry by offering pay-per-view Filipino movies and TV shows in its Web site. It has live streamed the April 2007 bout between Pacquiao and Jorge Solis in TV quality in the Philippines, and continues to stream live PBA games in its Web site.

The Dream Match is one of the first major boxing matches to be webcast in TV quality over the Internet, in multiple territories. For more information, log on to www.netvision.com.ph.

source:  http://www.tribune.net.ph/etc/20081130etc4.html

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The Filipino expat

January 13, 2009 at 10:09 pm · Filed under Jobs/Labor and tagged:

By Jerick T. Aguilar Updated January 04, 2008 12:00 AM

 


(Author’s Note:  A lot has been written about Filipino overseas workers but this has mainly been about those who are professional, service, technical, and production workers – nurses, teachers, domestic helpers, and the like – and who make up more than 50 percent of registered OFWs with the POEA.  A significant and growing number are also executive and managerial workers which is what this article touches on).
Before leaving the country, I had met foreigners here and there (as either tourists or acquaintances) with the usual introductory hi’s and hello’s – nothing more, nothing less – that only lasted for a couple of minutes.  At age 19, the first foreigner I actually came in close contact with was someone from New Zealand.  It was also the first time I spent the longest with somebody of a different skin color and this was during my final interview for an eventual management trainee position with one of the biggest multinational manufacturing companies in the Philippines.
It came as quite a surprise to me to be interrogated by a foreigner who, the likes of him, I was only used to staring at for a long time on television and the movie screen.  I mean, there were three stages of the tough selection process and in the first two, I was interviewed and assessed by fellow Filipinos – well-established managers in the company.  So I kinda expected to be grilled for the third time by a “kababayan” or two.  Luckily though, I wasn’t as nervous being alone with him (with a white man of all people!) in his office as I had thought I would – I was myself during the interview and later on got offered the job.
At that time, he was one of two expats in the company assigned in the Philippines.  He was Director of the Personnel Department and the other one was CEO from The Netherlands.  All the other managers were Filipino so the two would always visually stand out in the company premises whenever they were out of their offices.  On one hand, it was a privilege working with them – the globalist in me somehow hoping that their knowledge and work experience from the developed world would rub off on me.  On the other, it was like an offense – the nationalist in me somewhat thinking that they are out to colonize my country again, one company at a time.
But of course my latter perception of neocolonialism was wrong.  As a matter of fact, I learned a great deal from both of them (such as leaving the company on a high rather than sad note – which in the end I did) and they turned out to be good people not just at the professional but also the personal level.  They both were fair and just managers, giving employees their due and giving credit to those who deserved it.  They were open to fresh ideas from anyone – from factory workers and their secretaries, for example, and were willing to take calculated risks to increase the company’s profitability.  I was impressed by them and felt lucky to work with them.  Then again, they were not so much different from the rest of my Filipino bosses and colleagues in the company.
One of my Filipino bosses was at the top of her class at the Asian Institute of Management and she was recruited mid-career by the company.  In just a span of a few years, with her savvy management skills, she quickly rose up the corporate ladder and eventually replaced the Personnel Director.  Later on to be expatriated to the main headquarters in London where she became Regional Director of Asia and the Pacific, then Vice President for Management Development and Global Diversity, and now the Vice-President for Communications of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey.
Another one of my Filipino colleagues started out as Recruitment Assistant, then with his hard work and value addition, was fast-tracked to Training Manager in the Philippines and in due course Training Manager of the Asia-Pacific region in his former base of Singapore.  After this stint, he was pirated by an international pharmaceutical company and is now its Human Resources Director of North America in his new base of New Jersey.  Not to mention another great colleague who was headhunted by the competition – two big multinational manufacturing companies in the Philippines, one after the other.  Now she is based in Bangkok as one of the top executives (regional level, mind you) of an international beverage firm.
One of my best friends (yeah, I have more than one) was first a translator for a Swiss company in Manila and, with his raw talent and precision for work, he breezed through the organizational hierarchy by being expatriated to Geneva, then to Melbourne, and now to Hong Kong where he is one of the high-level managers in the region.  Another best friend (more than one, I wrote…) studied with me in the University of the Philippines and she is now Vice-President of one of the best-known financial investment firms in the world.  She literally works on Wall Street in the Big Apple and her job has brought her to the United Kingdom and Japan several times, thanks to her critical and out-of-the-box thinking.
A good friend of mine who I met in North Africa is a telecommunications consultant and, with his second-nature programming ability, he has worked in places one generally hasn’t even heard of.  His job took him to countries such as Nigeria, Jamaica, Tunisia, Suriname, and now he is working in Guyana.  In my travels around the continents, I have met a Filipino executive for a global media company in Chile, a factory manager of an international apparel firm headquartered in the US and whose operations are in Vietnam, and an IT director for the World Health Organization in Switzerland.
My personal list of Filipino managers and executives who have been expatriated to different countries can go on and on.  And Filipino expats I have heard of will make this list even longer so let me just enumerate the ones who are truly prominent.  The Head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Somali refugee center is Filipino.  One of the highest-ranking managers of Microsoft in its Seattle headquarters is Filipino.  Key economists of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund based in Washington, D.C. are Filipino.  As much as I would like to mention all their names, suffice it to know that they are just like you and me – Filipino.   
Before, I used to think that foreigners were much better than Filipinos – that a Filipino professional was meant to have an American or European (in my case, a Kiwi) boss.  I don’t know how my aforementioned friends think but it must be a nice feeling to have a foreigner work for you rather than work for them.  Definitely not because I feel superior but because it completely undermines the colonial mentality in the Philippines that whatever (or whoever) is imported is better.  Nowadays, Filipino managers are being exported, or make that expatriated, and the quality of their work is comparable to their foreign counterparts, if not finer.  Magaling ang Pilipino and there is just no accurate way to translate a sentence like this to English!
source:  http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=36746&publicationSubCategoryId=138

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Deadline extension on permit renewal blocked

January 13, 2009 at 7:12 pm · Filed under training


By Rizalene P. Acac   Published : 2009-01-13

The City Treasurer’s Office and the Business Bureau have registered their opposition to the city council move to to extend the registration of new businesses and the permit renewal of existing establishments.
In a letter addressed to Councilor Peter Laviña dated January 7, Business Bureau Officer in-charge Jhopee A. Agustin cited seven reasons on her opposition to the extensions.
She said for one, Section 167 of Republic Act 7160, the Local Government Code, and Section 398 of Ordinance No. 0158-05, the Revenue Code of Davao, state that the payment of local taxes, fees, and other charges should be done in the first 20 days of January.
“The long holiday last December is therefore not a good reason (for the extension). The renewal started last December not January,” she explained in yesterday’s “Kapehan sa Dabaw” at Café Rysus of SM City Davao.
The letter also said that while the legislative department has the power to extend the deadline for the if there is a “justifiable reason,” the plan to extend is still “premature” (see related story on page 6).
Agustin said there is also a “slight” increase in the number of applications compared to last yearwhich goes to show that taxpayers are prompt in settling obligations to the city government.
City Treasurer Rodrigo Riola said from January 2 to 5, there were already 14,742 business registration renewals that yielded more than P16 million collection. In the same period last year, there were only 12,947 business registration renewals equivalent to about P13 million in collections.
Riola said this implies that almost half of the businesses in the city have registered considering that as of last year, there were 30,000 registered business establishments in the city.
He said the bulk of the city’s resources is collected in the first quarter of the year when 60 percent of the local generated income is paid.
Agustin added they cannot also allow any extension since her office and that of Riola’s are anticipating the collection of surcharges, and penalties as well interests for the late registrants. She said only 80-90 percent o f the total number of businesses register on January, estimating it to be 20,000 last year.
She said the standard interest for late registrant is 25 percent and another two percent additional every week after the deadline.
Agustin said the extension is unnecessary due to extended working hours because the bureau is open from 8 am until 9 p.m. from January 12 to 16 everyday and even Saturdays and Sundays from 8 to 5 pm as well. Last January 5 to 9, they were open until 7 p.m.  She said they will also accept applicants until 12 midnight on January 20.
She said they received a total of 2,000 to 3,000 applications a day.
She said any extension would also disrupt the practice of accepting registrations for the first 20 days of January which has been happening since six years ago. “The new procedure in the renewal process introduced by the Business Bureau for the last three years has greatly reduced the number of steps thus making it easier for the taxpayers to renew their permits.

 source:  http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/story.php?id=23593

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Triple treat from SKYBROADBAND

January 13, 2009 at 5:34 pm · Filed under Industries, Technology, marketing and tagged: , ,

 

 

With so many service providers these days, only one name stands out from the rest by bringing together three of the best and trusted names in communications and entertainment.

 Imagine having access to the fastest cable internet connection, the best programs on cable TV and the most affordable IDD service – it’s practically everything you can ask for and it’s all under SKYCABLE.

 

Power Block gives you the best value for your money by combining SKYBROADBAND with SKYCABLE GOLD and SKYVOICE Plan 100 all in one subscription rate. While enjoying the fastest cable internet connection in the market today, subscribers also get a front row treat to a wide range of highly entertaining and informative programs on cable TV as well as free 100 minutes of IDD calls to the US and Canada every month. Monthly subscription rates stand at P5,999 for Plan 12mbps and P3,999 for Plan 6mbps.

 

SKYBROADBAND makes use of SKYCABLE facilities in bringing the fastest cable internet service to digital-ready areas in Metro Manila. Since it uses cable lines, SKYBROADBAND has the capacity to carry more data at a higher bandwidth allowing users to download and upload large files quickly.

 

A recent test showed that a 2-hour movie file took only less than 4 minutes to download using SKYBROADBAND Plan 12 mbps.

 

Aside from affording subscribers with the best technological innovations, Power Block also offers convenience as it covers cable internet, cable TV and IDD subscription under one account. There is no need to keep track of different payment due dates and stowing multiple monthly bills. You also save time settling your monthly due as some banks and payment centers accept payments only for particular services.

 

Subscribe now and get the best deal in broadband internet, cable TV and IDD service in the country today.

 

SKYBROADBAND is initially available in Las Piñas, Makati , Mandaluyong, Manila , Muntinlupa, Pasig , Parañaque, Pasay , Quezon City , San Juan , and Taguig. Ask about the 15-day FREE trial. Contact the 24/7 Customer Service Hotline or visit www.skybroadband.com.ph for more information.

source:  http://www.mb.com.ph/TECH20090113145473.html 

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Many ways to plug in to tech savings

January 13, 2009 at 5:27 pm · Filed under Poverty, Technology and tagged: , ,

 

TECHNEWS
Many ways to plug in to tech savings
Tuesday, January 13, 2009

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It’s a new year, all right, but economically, it still feels a lot like the old one.

Seems that everywhere you look, things are being downsized: companies, paychecks, parties, trade shows and on and on. People aren’t just tightening their belts; they’re punching new holes in them.

 

Writing about tech at times like these is, therefore, sort of a strange job. It entails reviewing products that are often expensive and definitely elective. At first glance, it would seem that spending on electronics would be one easy place to cut back.

 

But technology giveth, and technology taketh away. You might think of high-tech gadgetry as something that drains your bank account — but it can save you money, too. A lot of it.

 

Herewith: a few suggestions for using tech to save money. These aren’t new ideas; the press has covered all of these technologies before. But when every 0 counts, it’s worth dusting them off for another look.

 

CUT THE TV CORD, PART 1 Plenty of 20-somethings and college-somethings are doing this already: they’re canceling their cable or satellite TV service. (You can always have service reinstated once your finances recover.) Instead, they watch TV over the Internet.

 

At CBS.com, ABC.com, NBC.com and the various cable networks’ Web sites, you can watch regular, up-to-date TV shows, on demand, completely free, with excellent video quality and only a couple of 15-second ads an episode.

 

For example, the major networks offer the four most recent episodes of 20 or 40 popular shows: “Lost,” “The Office,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Heroes,” “30 Rock,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “CSI: Wherever,” “Survivor,” “The Bachelor,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty” and on and on.

 

Or visit Hulu.com, where thousands more episodes are gathered into a simple, easy-to-use virtual TV, including episodes from series of years gone by.

 

The sacrifice: You have to watch TV on your computer screen (unless you hook up your PC to your TV, which is not simple). Some shows still aren’t available except from illegal downloads. And, of course, you need high-speed Internet (a running theme in this column). The savings: 0 to ,200 a year.

 

CANCEL YOUR MOVIE CHANNELS Can’t bear to cut all your cable service? An HBO/Showtime package is probably adding about a month to your cable bill. If you’re in it for the dramatic series and boxing matches or whatever, great. But if you’re in it for the movies, you can do much better.

 

Consider Netflix’s irresistible deal: for a month, you can watch unlimited, on-demand movies, brought to you by the Internet, from an ever-growing library that already has 12,000 films.

 

You can watch on your Mac or PC, of course. But the Netflix on-demand movie software now comes built right into equipment that’s already connected to your TV: TiVo, Xbox 360, the 0 Roku Netflix box and certain Blu-ray disc players from LG or Samsung. More are coming.

 

You’ve probably never before experienced unlimited, on-demand movies; it’s a heady treat. (That same a month also lets you check out one Netflix DVD at a time, by mail. That’s good, because the on-demand movies aren’t very recent.)

 

The sacrifice: You’re also losing the nonmovie stuff on HBO, the dramatic series and so on; then again, why not get those on Netflix DVDs? The savings: 2 a year.

 

CUT THE TV CORD, PART 2 TV over the Internet generally looks great, but isn’t in high definition. So why not get yourself a hi-def antenna for your roof or even your bookshelf — and enjoy free over-the-air hi-def TV forever?

 

The sacrifice: Some technical setup. Fewer channels. The savings: 0 to ,200 a year.

 

ELIMINATE YOUR CELLPHONE CONTRACT The average American’s cellphone bill is about a month. Over the life of your two-year contract, that’s about ,750. If you talk more than your allotted minutes in a month, they hit you with punitive per-minute overage fees; if you talk less, then you’re throwing money out the window. (NYT)

 source:  http://www.mb.com.ph/TECH20090113145475.html#

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Memory foam maker opens new showroom

January 13, 2009 at 4:50 pm · Filed under Industries, Investing, Technology, marketing and tagged: , , , ,

 

MANDAUE Foam Industries, Inc., recently opened its 16th showroom along Quezon Avenue corner BMA St., Q.C.

The company carries the original flex foam mattress and high-quality spring beds under the brand name Gala bed as well as the the memory foam, which was originally developed for NASA astronauts. This highly dense foam molds to the shape of the body and creates the perfect support for the head, neck and shoulders allowing one to sleep in a neutral position.

Medical professionals around the world also recommend the memory foam to people who are experiencing back pain, neck, shoulder or joint pain, muscle aches, bedsores, insomnia, stress, fatigue, headaches, numbness, and other related ailments.

Mandaue Foam also offers home and office improvement particulars like pillows, sofas, bed frames, living room and dining room sets, curtains accessories, carpets, lighting products and other decorative ornaments.

Mandaue Foam furniture showroom’s in-house designer Melvin Nemenio says, “Our furniture may be handcrafted one at a time and made to order. We also offer free interior design consultation.” The Mandaue Foam furniture showroom branches are in the following provinces: Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Butuan, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos and Cainta. For more details, website at www.mafiinc.com.

source:  http://www.malaya.com.ph/jan13/livi1.htm

 

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Irrigation advances

January 13, 2009 at 4:21 pm · Filed under Agriculture, Investing, Poverty and tagged: , ,

TRAMKOK, Cambodia—Sok Sarin flashes a toothless grin as he looks at his newly built house and remembers how the other farmers laughed when he pioneered new rice-growing techniques in his district in southern Cambodia.

Better irrigation, training in how to select seeds and cheap fertilizer made from wild plants and animal or bat droppings have more than doubled the yield from his rice fields to 3.4 tons per hectare from 1.5 tons.

“No one believed that this idea would work. Now they follow me and they have good harvests,” said Sarin, 60.

Cambodia’s economy was devastated by civil war from the 1970s to the late 1990s, including four years under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, whose dream of transforming the country into a great rice power ended in the nightmare of the “Killing Fields.”

Now another agrarian revolution is under way as the government seeks to boost rice exports and cut poverty among its 14 million people, 85 percent of whom are farmers or members of farming families.

Thanks in large part to vastly improved irrigation, Sarin can get two crops a year from his fields, earning him an income of $1,500. Per capita income in Cambodia is around $500.

Sarin’s neighbor, Long Yos, 50, said Cambodian farmers were also following methods honed in China, India and the Philippines to breed fish that eat the insects that destroy rice plants.

“The fish eat the insects; we eat the fish when they get bigger,” said Yos.

Better irrigation and the expansion of land use are crucial to government ambitions to produce 15 million tons of rice by 2015, more than double the 7 million forecast for 2008/09 and 6.76 million in 2007/08. The main harvest is in November.

According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cambodia was the world’s ninth-biggest rice exporter in 2007 with 450,000 tons. Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun says Cambodia could export 8 million tons by 2015.

Neighbors Thailand and Vietnam were in first and third places in the export table in 2007 with 9.5 million tons and 4.5 million tons respectively, according to the USDA.

One rice dealer with a trading house in Singapore estimated Cambodia exported 600,000 to 800,000 tons a year, directly or indirectly via Thailand, and could push that up to 1.5 million tons in one or two seasons if the government was focused.

“But 8 million tons is an entirely different ball game. Obviously, this has to come from increases in area and not just yield,” he said.

Another Singapore trader said it would take a lot of money for Cambodia to push yields significantly higher.

“China is the only country in the developing world that has reached 6 to 8 tons per hectare. Thailand is at 3.5 tons per hectare while India is around 2.5 tons,” he said.

Analysts in Thailand, while acknowledging how far Cambodia has come already, think its plans are just too ambitious.

“It’s possible, but it would not be that easy,” Paka-on Tipayatanadaja at Kasikorn Research said of the 2015 target.

“It would take more than a decade to develop not only an irrigation system, but also a logistics system and storage systems,” she added.

Many Cambodian farmers harvest just once a year because of a lack of water. Vietnam and Thailand, with their superior irrigation, manage two or three crops.

Phnom Penh is investing about $49 million a year on irrigation, said Hang Chuon Naron, an official at the Finance Ministry, but much more is needed.

“Japan and South Korea are helping us but that’s not enough,” said Chea Chhun Keat of the Water Resources Ministry, adding 1.6 million hectares of 2.6 million under cultivation was irrigated.

Foreign investment is flowing into Cambodia thanks to its cheap labor and the political stability achieved under Hun Sen, prime minister since 1985.

In August, Kuwait agreed loans totaling $546 million, of which $486 million will be invested in irrigation systems and hydro-power on the Stueng Sen river in the northeast of the country.

A Kuwaiti newspaper said Kuwait had leased rice fields to secure food supplies. Qatar also plans to invest $200 million in Cambodian farmland.

“They have the money, we have the land. They wouldn’t come if we didn’t have agricultural potential,” said farm minister Sarun.

Land under cultivation could be pushed up to 3.5 million hectares quite quickly, according to Yang Saing Koma, president of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture.

He pointed to the area round Tonle Sap, Cambodia’s biggest freshwater lake with up to 800,000 hectares of potential farm land, much of it unused as a lack of irrigation means farmers can’t control water levels: In the rainy season, there’s too much, which damages rice plants, in the dry season too little.

There is more land to be worked in the northeast and in the still-mined former battlefields of the northwest.

In all, Saing Koma said, Cambodia had 6 million hectares that might be cultivated for rice and other crops.

The average rice yield per hectare is currently 2.6 tons and he said that could be pushed up to 3.5 tons — a yield that Sarin has in his sights thanks to the training, irrigation and bat droppings that have given him two crops a year.

source:  http://www.malaya.com.ph/jan13/agri1.htm

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A Filipino Classical Music Radio App for your iPhone

January 12, 2009 at 7:43 pm · Filed under Technology and tagged: ,

Posted Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 8:34 am by arnold zafra
Viewed 2715 times | Related entries: Mobile

Sean P. Aune posted a great post on 40+ Music Apps for the iPhone at Mashable. While it is a great list in itself, what caught my attention was an item listed as Classical Philippines Radio which plays an endless stream of classical Philippines musical styles. I immediately check the apps at the Apps Store and found out that it is a free iPhone apps developed by Brian Stormont.

From the Apps Store description, I found this website where the app was described as the developed by Glad Works and Stormy Productions of Rhode Island, USA. The iPhone apps when installed on your iPhone will stream from San Francisco California. I’m not really sure whether any Filipino was involved in the development of this iPhone app, although the site also mentions Radyo San Guilmo of Morong Rizal, Philippines.

Interesting right? Will try to install the file later on and will give you my feedback. If you want to download the apps on your iPhone, here’s the link to the Apps Store.

source:  http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/a-filipino-classical-music-radio-app-for-your-iphone

 

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Another Pinoy iPhone App Shows Up at the iPhone Apps Store

January 12, 2009 at 7:38 pm · Filed under Technology and tagged: ,

 

Posted Sunday, January 4th, 2009 6:59 pm by arnold zafra
Viewed 1862 times | Related entries: Mobile

Was checking out the iTunes Apps Store when I noticed the number Paid Apps that goes by the name iManila. It has the Philippine flag for its icon and so I clicked on it to find out about some details. The iManila application description says – “iManila gives you easy access to an online phone “Yellow Pages Directory” for finding shops, businesses, restaurants and bars in the Philippines.” Now that got me interested and did not waste time to purchase the iPhone app ($.99).

It didn’t take long for the application to get into my iPhone as it only requires 1MB. I immediately search for the term “spa” and hit the search button. Less than a minute has passed before it displays the search results. I clicked on one of the results and the iPhone’s screen went to another page giving me some details about the results as well as quick links for calling the listed number, saving the number to my iPhone’s directory and an option for bookmarking the results.

Cool right? I investigated further and found out that the iManila iPhone app was created by MangoCode and that it gets its data from this online directory. I also found out that the application is good only for Metro Manila establishments and some parts of Cebu. The directory also doesn’t include movie theaters yet. And we’re really hoping that it will be included in the next version of iManila as it could easily be the most useful information.

Anyway, iManila is a pretty cool iPhone application with the Philippine branding into it. Hopefully we get to see more “localized” iPhone apps in the future aside from iManila and another application we featured not so long ago.

You may download the iManila iPhone app here.

source:  http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/another-pinoy-iphone-app-shows-up-at-the-iphone-apps-store

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Patience pays off for Toledo coop

January 12, 2009 at 5:30 pm · Filed under Industries, Investing, Jobs/Labor, marketing and tagged: , , , , ,

 

 

By Cris Evert Lato
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 13:03:00 01/12/2009

Filed Under: Economy and Business and Finance

 

TOLEDO CITY, Philippines – Most people think business in Toledo City has stopped when Atlas mining ceased operations in 1994.

Unknown to many, a group of 42 individuals — some, former mine workers — has managed to make another industry survive.

They turn wood pieces into furniture items.

To make the business thrive, the group formed the Don Andres Soriano Village 2 (Dasvo) Multipurpose Cooperative in 2002.

“Nagpatawag mi og tigom para maistoryahan ang kabahin sa coop. Kada miyembro naay shared capital nga P1,500 bayran (We called for a meeting to talk about the cooperative. Each member should give a shared capital of P1,500 paid) in a staggered basis,” said Dasvo vice chairman Leopoldo Dela Peña.

Members have the option to contribute more than P1,500. Because the contributions were done on a staggered basis, the cooperative only has an initial capital of P6,000.

The money was used to buy raw materials, Dela Peña said.

Dasvo applied for accreditation from the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA). It was approved in 2003.

Organizing the people was not difficult because they had been working with each other when Atlas mining was still operational.

During those years, Dela Peña said, Atlas assisted them in managing the furniture business under the company’s socio-economic development project.

Aside from furniture, the group made gloves and rags that were supplied to the different towns and cities in Cebu province.

Today, the cooperative also produces safety shoes for the 5,000 workers of Carmen Copper Corporation (CCC), an Atlas subsidiary that operates the Toledo copper mine.

The shoemaking venture started in June 2008. The shoes carry the brand C3 Safety Shoes.

“They already have a captured market for these shoes so it will not be hard for them to market them (shoes),” said Rodrigo Cal, CCC vice president and resident manager.

Cal said around P500,000 will be released to the cooperative this year to support the shoe manufacturing business of the cooperative as part of the company’s Social Development and Management Program (SDMP).

The cooperative’s personnel were busy working on some shoe and furniture pieces when visited the factory in Barangay (village) Das last Saturday.
“We have P9.8 million-contract with DepEd (Department of Education). We won the bidding last May 20. We are providing the teachers’ chairs and tables and students’ armchairs for Region 7,” said cooperative bookkeeper Vicenta Tingson.

Tingson said 132 workers are assigned to work on the three areas of production—furniture items, rags and gloves, and shoes.

She said furniture items are sold to companies and households in Cebu, while rags and gloves are sold to the different dealers and distributors in the Visayas.

Rags are sold at P35 per kilo, while gloves are sold at P72 per dozen.

A pair of low-cut safety shoes costs P1,175 while a pair of high-cut safety shoes costs P1,275. These are sold to CCC workers.

The cooperative workers make the upper portion of the shoes.

These will then be shipped to Pan Pacific Industrial Sales Co. in Manila and attached to the soles through shoe injection machine.

Pan Pacific was tapped by CCC to help the cooperative in making the safety shoes.

The shoes will then be returned to Toledo and cooperative members will do the finishing touches such as putting on the shoe laces.

Tingson said it takes about three weeks, including shipment, before one pair of shoes is made.

“The (CCC) workers are already the captured market of the cooperative. The workers change shoes every six months so after this duration, they (cooperative) have new orders again,” said CCC community relations officer Wendel Martin Cabrera.

Tingson said they delivered 300 pairs of shoes last October 15. The full amount of P342,650 was paid to the cooperative last December 22.

A second delivery of 400 pairs was made on December 24. Payment, worth P457,500, is expected to be given on January 15.

Tingson said they are making 500 pairs of safety shoes at present.

Asked how they manage to focus on Dasvo’s three products, Dela Peña said: “We carefully assign the workers for each product and system that ensures products made are recorded.”

The cooperative also has a mediation committee, which takes care of any conflict.

Running for six years now, Dasvo II MPC has come a long way from producing furniture, rags and gloves to safety shoes.

But the cooperative members believe that their patience made the ventures successful.

“You need to be more patient if you handle a group. People are hard to manage. Problems are normal but if leaders communicate well and (are) transparent, it will not be hard to solve them,” Dela Peña said.

source:  http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/enterprise/view/20090112-182866/Patience-pays-off-for-Toledo-coop

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