heartshape

August 28-31, 2007 (Development Economics)


Our teachers’ knack for bargaining may have paid off else we wouldn’t have reached 3 far off destinations and spent the night in an expensive resort with less than Php 5,000 but I didn’t realize the consequences until it was too late. Too late in the sense that I scrimped on preparations and didn’t bring enough supplies (medicine, water, tissue, crackers, etc.) to sustain me for what I’ve found out to be the longest road trip I’ve taken.

Our itinerary basically included Bacolod, Boracay, and Iloilo where we were to spend the first of our trip’s two-night duration. We were officially on the go at around 1:30 in the morning of August 28 and hardly paying attention to the loud movie on the bus, I dozed off along with most of the excited travelers.

If Cebu takes pride in being the Queen City of the South then Bacolod is surely its king. Having reached the metropolis after a 6-hour travel from Dumaguete, we noticed the sun beginning to swallow the last hint of darkness promising a great first day for our trip.

Bacolod

About the time one usually expects a sprawling investment hub to be absorbed in a hectic rush hour, the city seemed surprisingly calm. Wide streets were almost devoid of traffic making it easy for our bus drivers to maneuver their vehicles. Maybe it was a holiday or how else could I justify the absence of frenzy at 7 to 8 o’clock in the morning - usually the time when both students and members of the labor force rush to their respective destinations.

Straight after breakfast, we visited an out-of-the-way handicrafts factory called Tumandok which in the local dialect means “native”. The name couldn’t have suited them better as the organization specializes on reusing otherwise discarded items and transforms them into export-worthy masterpieces.

Greeting us upon arriving at their modest factory were the smell of rugby, paint, or varnish seemingly alien to handicraft workers concentrating their way through piles of coconut shells, twigs, and other indigenous materials that were otherwise considered trash. One of the workers was focusing on attaching small – about a square centimeter – coconut shells to what I thought was a big shallow bowl (also made from coconut) that I felt guilty for disturbing her even to ask questions. The process was clearly arduous. After undergoing through several processes as laminating and spraying, the piles of raw materials were turned into exquisite furniture pieces and elegant home decors ready for shipment.

The display area was jammed with finished products which have come a long way from their original indigenous form. Jewelry boxes made of capiz shells, vase made from coconut twigs, and coconut bark-turned-lampshades were among their best sellers, noting huge department store chains as SM and Rustan’s to carry the bulk of domestic orders, and China as their number 1 foreign importer.

What was originally established by the elite wives of sugar barons in the midst of an economically devastated Negros Occidental in the 1980s, Tumandok continuously provides employment to Negreses while helping the environment and promoting the products of Negros. Operating for around 20 years now,currently with 85 employees strong, it firmly highlights creativity as the number one capital for aspiring entrepreneurs.



Manufacturing Precious Moments

If Boracay’s unmatched publicity lures guests with its classy Bohemian ambiance, the next resort we visited in New Washington, Aklan is an entirely different world to navigate. A double A resort recently given the Agora award for marketing, Sampaguita Gardens indeed offered us a way to a unique, fun experience. In addition to the spa (with each room’s interior arranged differently every day) and butterfly farm, top-billing its popularity was the manufacturing headquarters for the well-loved teardrop-eyed Precious Moments dolls.

Created by American artist Samuel J. Butcher 30 years ago originally as gifts for family and friends, Precious Moments is among the most recognized art in the world, sharing messages of loving, caring and sharing with interested collectors. Who would’ve thought the endearing characters in cross-stitch patterns and Christian books are manufactured in the Philippines?

“In the early 1970s, Sam and a friend started a small company to produce his Precious Moments art on a line of cards and posters, calling their company Jonathan & David. They took their goods to the annual Christian Booksellers Association Convention in Anaheim and their tiny booth was filled with enthusiastic retailers wanting to order the new line. The crowd became so large that neighboring vendors came over to help the two young men write orders.

Shortly thereafter, Sam was approached by Enesco Corporation to develop a three-dimensional figurine based on his artwork titled “Love One Another.” Sam was so overwhelmed when he saw the first porcelain sample that he fell to his knees and wept. It was the beginning of a phenomenon for both Sam and the gift industry.

By the end of 1978, the first twenty-one original Precious Moments figurines were introduced to the market. The response to the collection was incredible. People began to write to Sam, telling him about how the Precious Moments figurines had touched their lives in a moving and heartfelt way. In less than a year after their introduction, demand was overwhelming. The success of the Precious Moments figurines was amazing, yet Sam never lost touch with his original purpose to create art which combined his heartfelt emotions with his abiding faith (www.preciousmoments.com)”

Our tour of the Precious Moments collection room was both inspiring and scary. The room spoke of Sam’s faith and conviction, judging on the collection’s biblical themes. As interesting as it was to see Noah’s Ark in soft-bisque porcelain and to touch the most expensive piece (Php35,000 for a figurine that fits in an adult’s palm) in the room, the prospect of breaking even the smallest objects (Christmas tree hangings which cost around Php1,500) was really scary. Our tour guide and Sampaguita Gardens manager Glen even said that in the effort of producing a worthy creation, figurines with the slightest imperfection are deliberately broken.

Among the highlights of the tour were the Christmas House, a lovely pink and green American architecture that was both a doll museum and coffee shop, with a 1932 Ford prototype parked on its garage, and the Samuel J. Butcher mansion, a classic piece that can rival museums anytime, and was undoubtedly my favorite among all the places we’ve been through in our field trip.

Leading the way to the mansion, Glen showed us the authentic collections of the Precious Moments creator. On one part of the house was a Louise the XIV armoire and a 300-year-old Thai lounge chair, and on another a luxurious Swarovski chandelier and an antique cabinet preserving centuries worth of wardrobe memories. Butcher’s expatriate years in Thailand explained the many Thai masterpieces like the gigantic urns gracing the entrance contributing to the mansion’s old Asian feel. Various paintings and traditional wall decors somehow spoke of Butcher’s lifestyle and thirst for adventure and eclecticism. The master’s bedroom was like a mini museum from the antique bed, to the US derived flooring and Malaysian based panels, to the authentic Persian carpet on the floor.

Our sumptuous lunch by the pool signaled the tour’s end. Sampaguita Gardens was a colorful paradise for children and the young at heart, and to say that I enjoyed it more than I did Boracay is an understatement.