BACOLOR, Pampanga, Philippines—A cooperative of 140 magbuburda (embroiderers) in Pandi, Bulacan, won the 2008 outstanding One Town One Product (Otop) award in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) category in Central Luzon.
The Bagong Barrio Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BBMPC) topped the regional business tilt for the first time, after winning the Otop provincial awards in 2006.
“We wish to win in the national level,” BBMPC chair Ramon Santos Jr. said during the recent awarding rites here.
During the same rites, the City of San Fernando was named the best Otop implementor in the region.
“The BBMPC earned the nod of the judges because of its financial viability and excellence in the craft,” said Blesila Lantayona, director of the Department of Trade and Industry in Central Luzon.
‘Disenyo Pandi’
Established in September 2002 on a startup capital of P1 million from the shares of the 32 founding members, the BBMPC now has P48 million in capital and assets.
Its two-story office-cum-showroom on Grace Park Street in Barangay Bagong Barrio was built on income and not on loans, Santos said.
What BBMPC does is buy in bulk the materials needed by its members to make embroidered or beaded gowns, barong, dresses, bed sheets, pillow cases and tablecloth.
“Para makamura (So we can buy the items cheap),” Santos said.
All BBMPC products go by the brand name “Disenyo Pandi.” The cooperative holds the intellectual property rights to the brand, which was registered and introduced in 2007.
“[The brand] says that every piece is a product of dedicated hard work, of good designs and great attention to detail,” said Santos.
He did not have to do much convincing. Hours before the Otop winners were announced, five models walked the ramp.
Tradition
The crowd hushed. The remarks heard there prove that it was not the good looks or the graceful gait of the models that captured attention. The gowns and barong— all embroidered and beaded to the designs of Renee Salud—wowed the crowd.
“Disenyo Pandi,” Santos said, banks on the tradition of hand embroidery in Pandi.
Like him, most of the BBMPC members are third-generation magbuburda.
Santos learned the craft from his mother Petronila, who is known in the village as Nanay Petring.
“In the 1970s, they embroidered bed sheets, pillow cases, tablecloths, wedding veils. It was during the centennial (of the declaration of Philippine Independence in 1998) that more turned to making embroidered gowns and barong,” Santos said.
The favorite textiles are Mekado silk, Jusi organdy, Organsa, Tafeta Star and Satin Princess.
Santos, a civil engineering graduate from the University of the East, opted for an early retirement from the Manila Water Co. in 2000, plunging into the business that his mother nurtured while helping organize the cooperative.
Consistent winner
BBMPC members operate their stalls in Bagong Barrio, in Tutuban, Binondo or in Ilaya, Divisoria.
Some retail their products in other provinces.
Aside from the Otop crowns, the BBMPC was also hailed best in entrepreneurship by the Go Negosyo last year.
To Santos, however, the best award is knowing that the homegrown industry has helped improve the lives of the hard working embroiderers.
“The pioneers did not even finish high school. Bagong Barrio used to be so poor that only few parents could afford to send their children to school. Now, many of us are able to send our kids to exclusive schools,” he said.
