When love and candies meet

Candies and love can be as sweet but they can be sweeter together. This holds true in the case of Santiago and Rose Nierra when their love for candy making turned their love nest into a growing enterprise of producing milk candy and related products. But how did it started? Well, let's find out.

The enterprise name SAN-ROSE Processed Food Products obviously is a mixture of the owners first name. And as candies are bound hard with sugar, SanRose's commitment to pursue the venture is bound with the love and purpose of helping not only themselves but also the community they serve through the people they employ.

This commitment led SanRose to seek assistance from DOST Biliran who in turn enrolled the micro-enterprise under its Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading program (SETUP). The firm later received consultancy support through the MPEX. This year, 2012 a technology acquisition support amounting to Eighty-Five Thousand Pesos (PhP85,000.00) which include improving the packaging system of its products is released to the firm.

Few years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Nierra was suppose to return to Manila to work after a visit to their hometown in Almeria, Biliran. They felt how hard it is in the metropolis with meager income as candy factory worker. Tasked to lead his local church community the couple contemplated on starting a small business instead. Hesitant at first to venture into such a business but after seeing a lot of rural people having no work encouraged them to help. And so armed with enough knowledge on candy making they started very small.

They produced milk candy (yema) initially, hired unemployed women and youth as packers and sell the products to peddlers with motorcycle who in turn distributed the products around Almeria and the neighboring towns. And so San-Rose products became available in stores around the province.

Seeing young people, mostly women with hairnets and aprons, usually inspires rural folk with the thought of having a small candy factory in their remote rural community. This impression is what SANROSE has given to constituents of Brgy. Caucab, Almeria, Biliran about 5 kilometers from Almeria town. The firm generated about four hundred thousand pesos (PhP400,000) worth of products and was able to employ at least 12 workers from the community based on its operation last year.

Mr. Nierra, a local church leader, set a small area near his house as a processing section for milk candy, pastillas, peanut butter, and similar products. With the help of consultants from Naval State University commissioned by DOST's MPEX program, San-Rose was able to improve its processing lay-out as well as the formulation of its candy products.

Micro as it is categorized, the firm strive to increase its production by 20% through the assistance of DOST and other agencies by the coming years.

With the enthusiasm to help and the love and inspiration of family members, the sweetness of San-Rose candy can be an instrument of building a stronger community if properly sustained.

There's future for a roadside bamboo furniture shop

Who would think that a road shoulder in a rural community could be a start of a promising venture?

Ronie Villanueva utilizing a small lot along the Kawayan-Culaba road in  Barangay Bulalacao, Kawayan, Biliran started his small bamboo furniture venture armed with a few thousand pesos, a bunch of willing skilled craftsmen, a backward set of woodworking tools, and an optimistic heart.

And this optimism yielded the support of DOST SET-UP program through a series of consultancy and finally approving a technology acquisition assistance for Ronie Furniture this year 2012 in the amount of PhP 111,000.00.

A security guard turned entrepreneur, Ronie convinced and earned the trust of an unemployed furniture maker from his place and put up a small capital to start the business. The initial arrangement was for him to acquire the materials and sell the finish products, while the partner do the crafting with his family in a makeshift area along the road. This space became their production as well as display area for the products.

Ronie realized that his plan worked well "and it was good," borrowing from the famous lines of Genesis, so he aspired bigger. Hearing about DOST SETUP program, he didn't hesitate to visit the DOST Biliran Provincial office in Naval, Biliran where a collaborative project was hatched.

DOST Biliran facilitated the conduct of technology assessment for Ronie which was then enrolled under the Manufacturing Productivity Expansion Program (MPEX) involving consultants from Naval State University in Naval.

DOST realized that Ronie Furniture's potential could be more harnessed through improving its facilities and so an Innovation Support Project was proposed and technology and equipment need were identified with assistance from the DOST's Forest Products and Natural Resources Research and Development Institute in Los Banos, Laguna through Engr. Vic Revilleza and Ms. Zenaida Reyes.

With the DOST support, soon the ordinary planes and saws used by the workers will be replaced with more efficient cutting, cleaning, and boring tools which will greatly improve the quality of their finished product.

The MPEX consultancy conducted by NSU has earlier created improvement in the lay-out of the production area and the over-all management of the business. 

Biliran studes join DOST Scholarship exams

A total of one hundred twenty three (123) graduating high school students from around Biliran Province and nearby Leyte town flocked to Naval State University where the SY 2012-2013 DOST Scholarship Qualifying Examinations was conducted on November 20, 2011 from 7:00 AM to 6:00PM.

The students came from the different private and public high schools from the Division of Biliran and were members of the top 5% of the graduating class and those from special match and science classes of science accredited high schools.

If this examinees would pass the test, they will be considered DOST scholars who can avail free tuition and monthly stipend and other benefits in accredited universities around the country.

Micro-entrepreneurs in Biliran receive free consultancy

The MPEX Team with Ms. Lucy Dauz of DOST 8

Through the assistance of the Manufacturing Productivity Extension (MPEX) Program of the Department of Science and Technology, five (5) new micro enterprises from around Biliran province will benefit through a free consultancy services from local and national experts.

DOST will provide the consultancy support fund to Naval State University to mobilize their experts to conduct technical, marketing, and management advises to improve the productivity of the firms.  These consultancy will run for six months where consultants submit short and long term recommendations to the MSME for enhancement of their firms in line with the business operational areas mentioned earlier.

The beneficiary enterprises are: San Rose Processed Food Products from Sampao, Almeria, Biliran producing milk candy and other related candy products; the Almeria Builders from Almeria, Biliran producing metal products such as steel windows, grilles, steel trusses and others; CM Furniture in Acaban, Culaba specializing in wood based furniture; the Ronnie Furniture Shop in Bulalacao, Kawayan, Biliran who develops bamboo based furniture; and Julyanna's Cakes and Catering Services on cake production.

DOST Regional Office No. 8 in coordination with the Naval State University organized two consultancy teams to handle these five clients. The teams will be supervised by Mr. Daniel Ariaso, the Vice President of NSU responsible for external affairs and extension related services.

SETUP approves 2 new projects for Biliran

A total of PhP355,000 worth of technology upgrading assistance has been released to two (2) micro enterprises in the Province of Biliran in the 3rd quarter of 2011. The financial support include the acquisition of new equipment to improve production efficiency and production volume and improve the packaging and labeling of their products.

Winconfel Suman from Naval, Biliran would soon be acquiring improved set of equipment for the processing of glutenous rice into the popular native delicacy from Naval - the "Balintawak suman." In the otherhand, JV Bakeshop from Kansanoc, Kawayan, Biliran will be improving their process of producing the sweet otap, a sugar coated pastry popular among Cebuanos.

The financial support aims to improve the production volume of the msmes by at least 20% from their current production. This support will economically result to increase revenue and will provide employment opportunity in the locality.
(Inset Photo: wrapping of balintawak suman in anahaw leaves)

Online Rain Monitor for Biliran is on

DOST-Biliran has completed the installation of the Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) in Naval, Biliran Province. The rain gauge is located at the back of the Biliran Provincial Capitol in Calumpang, Naval, Biliran. The automatic rain gauge uses the tipping bucket to collect the amount of rain in the location and automatically send the data to a central database managed by the DOST's Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI).

The instrument helps to provide a real time assessment of the amount of water absorbed by the soil and assess potential flooding or landslides. It is therefore of great help in hazard mitigation and in other use requiring precipitation data. 

The ARG deployment is part of a nationwide project implemented by the Phillipine Atmospheric, Geophysical, & Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA) and ASTI. In Biliran, the Provincial Government provided support with the use of the lot and security of the unit, while DOST Regional Office No. 8 provided the materials for installation and fencing.