Green structures eyed in Leyte, Cebu

The Philippine Bamboo Foundation Inc. is set to collaborate with the government and international organizations to produce alternative green structures for the calamity-stricken areas in Bohol, Cebu, Leyte and Samar. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Bamboo Foundation Inc. is set to collaborate with the government and international organizations to produce alternative green structures for the calamity-stricken areas in Bohol, Cebu, Leyte and Samar.

In a statement, the PBFI said it would use the shared service facility of the Department of Trade and Industry to produce earthquake and stormproof hybrid bamboo structures that could be used to rebuild houses and other structures in areas affected by calamity.

The facility was turned over to PBFI in Dauin, Negros Oriental earlier this week.

Beneficiaries of this facility included not just the workers of PBFI, but also other primary and secondary bamboo processors in Negros Oriental.

With the common service facility, workers in the bamboo industry may now access equipment and mechanized tools to increase production capacity, efficiency and serve new markets through more products and services.

PBFI is a nongovernment organization that hosts the biggest bamboo nursery for the entire Visayas and Mindanao, with at least 40 bamboo species grown in the nursery site in Dauin, Negros Oriental.

The engineered bamboo produced by PBFI includes a wide range of composite products manufactured by binding together bamboo strips, slats, strands, particles, fibers or veneers.

Engineered bamboo refers to the low-cost product manufactured from bamboo and designed to be a replacement for wood. It is used in furniture and furnishings and may be combined with metal, ceramics and glass.

The Philippines had about 172,000 hectares of bamboo forest in 2005, or about 2.4 percent of the 7,162-million hectares of the country’s total forest area, the DTI said, citing the World Bamboo Resources.