What’s your OTOP

One thing I like about the government is that they are serious in developing the untapped small businesses in the country. One program that I like is the OTOP or the One Town One Product.

This is different from One Town, One ********* , One Th***** which is a running joke here during elections. Okay, that’s another story. The OTOP program is a top priority of the government and this is a program that is designed to promote entrepreneurship and also to create jobs. Sensible enough, if we don’t have enough jobs here, why not create jobs, no? Under this program, one town or municipality is expected to name or take the lead in identifying, developing and promoting a product or service which the town has a competitive edge. So here in Albay, majority of the products used in the OTOP program are the abaca, abaca fiber and seagrass-based handicrafts and products. Camalig has their ‘pinangat’. So what your OTOP?

Falling abaca handicrafts sector in Albay

My professor said this two weeks ago, and I can say that indeed the abaca handicrafts sector is falling. I mean this has fallen greatly. The usual measures of popularity and profitability are usually seen during this time of the year. It’s supposed to be the orders time at the start of the September months for abaca handicrafts’ goods and seagrass handicrafts’ goods like bancuan bags and seagrass or agas placemats. Orders are peaking up and competing contractors should be competing for workers and prices right now. Others are scouting materials like bancuan leaves are being done as this time. But right now, we don’t see this coming. The grass-root and small enterprises in this area are down and it would be a sad Christmas. It’s time for this sector to re-invent seagrass handicrafts and abaca handicrafts.

This will be a nice weekend

Just got home..It’s past 9pm. Good thing my cousin was on his way to Naga so I saved on my fare going home. Met with fellow home-based writers at Metro Cafe. It was short but good enough to bond with them. The ride home was uneventful save for that new friend that I met on-board. Well we did’nt talk that much but being introduced to someone and making friends along the way is good enough isn’t it?

Tomorrow I’ll be in Naga to visit my cousins. I was supposed with a very ‘special’ friend’, well from my own perspective. But as usual and just like in the past, something important surfaced and she can’t meet me tomorrow. Well can I expect; this happened twice already and didn’t push thru because she has an important activity to attend to. Ordinary persons will see this as more than enough reasons to cut and cut cleanly. But not me as I entertain still the possibility of us meeting and us together. Perhaps I am one of those people who need waking up. I checked out as well my blog and the good news is that when I searched on ‘abaca handicrafts’ and ‘seagrass handicrafts’, my site landed on top of Google.Kewl. But then this isn’t a commercial site that market these products  so the site’s placing on the search engine will be put to waste. Anyway, I’ll just write on abaca handicrafts and seagrass handicrafts because I miss the bulk orders of course and talking to buyers every time. Time to sign off since I will be aerly tomorrow. Naga til 4pm and tomorrow night will be my friend’s birthday and the celebration here at my place.