From civil engineer to abaca bag maker


by Myrna R. Co, SERDEF Media Bureau

(First published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Business Monday, June 3, 2012)

Bulua, Cagayan de Oro.  At the peak of her career, Vivian Bandiola Libao quit her high-paying job at Petron Corporation in Makati City when her husband Francis joined the STEAG State Power Corporation in Misamis Oriental.  As she began to settle in Cagayan de Oro City with her young family, she had no inkling she was about to enter a field she never imagined venturing into.

The Bandiolas are originally from Bukidnon, 1-1/2-hour- bus ride from Cagayan de Oro, and Vivian studied B.S. engineering at Cagayan de Oro College.  Thus the move did not really disorient her, but finding her economic place in that city proved daunting  – at first.

As a civil engineer, Vivian  tried to apply for a position in engineering and construction firms in CdO.  Invariably, she was turned down for being “over qualified.”  At her old job at Petron Corporation, she was doing highly technical work designing warehouses, pipelines, and piers.

Providentially, her older sister, Marilou de la Cruz, a handicraft entrepreneur, asked Vivian if she wanted to take over the business she had begun to weary of.  Vivian could have it lock, stock, and barrel, if she wanted, Marilou offered.

Vivian accepted the offer cautiously.  It was after, all, her first foray into entrepreneurship.  She began a crash program on handicraft production, mentored by her sister.  Marilou also introduced her to her business network that included officers, experts and advisers of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and PhilExport.

Vivian named her business Puyo Handicraft which means bag or bayong in the native dialect.  To be sure, more than 80 per cent of her products are native bags – fashion bags, functional bags.  The rest are decorative items, pillow cases, abaca flowers, placemats and trays, stools and jelly bags.

She sources her materials from the tribal women of Bukidnon, famous for weaving native hinabol fabrics from abaca fiber.  Without them, there is no Puyo Handicrafts, Vivian asserts.

Traditionally farmers, these women used to weave only as a sideline.  With constant orders from Vivian and other handicraft producers, weaving eventually became their main livelihood.

Her rapport with the women — her being able to communicate with them in their native dialect — gives her an edge, she thinks.  “They listen to me when I suggest improvements in quality and measurements and when I tell them how important it is to keep delivery timetables.”

Vivian taught the weavers innovations in the dyeing process, including how to make colors consistent.   She would ask them to estimate the amount of dyeing materials for a given batch of woven fabrics, “because they will never get the exact shade when they repeat the process.”  She explains that while there is a formula followed, there are so many factors that can influence the color, including weather conditions and how and where they wash the fabric after dyeing.

In turn, Vivian makes it a point to listen to the weavers.  “When you try to help them solve their problems, both production and personal, you also benefit.”

Most of the time, though, she would let them do “their own thing,” as long as they follow specifications.

Hinabol  uses the ikat weave, where the warp, weft or both are dyed before weaving to create designs on the fabric.  The combination of colors results in vivid, colorful monochromatic patterns.

She lets the women weavers do as they have done for generations because, after all, what they do is ethnic, traditional.  “I like to preserve our culture.”

While there is no shortage of women weavers, the supply of abaca can run scarce.

Customarily, tribal folks would gather abaca from the forest, harvesting what happened to grow in the wild.  Thus, during a drought, there is no harvest.

The problem prompted the Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA) to put up abaca plantations in Mindanao for the first time.

Vivian supported the campaign.  She joined the group that went around talking with the chieftains in the hinterland tribes to cooperate with the project.  Today, the abaca plantations are thriving and Mindanao is now the No. 1 supplier of abaca in the country, edging out Bicol where plantations are being plagued by a viral disease.

She makes her own designs, inspired by what she sees in the internet and in trade fairs.  “But when I make a prototype, I always see to it that my own ideas are blended in.”

She has her own way of testing prototype bags.  She would personally wear the bag for several days.  If she feels any discomfort, she would make changes.

She sometimes uses designs originating from clients.  For example, the DTI ordered note pad holders for an EAGA conference, providing the design.  “After a time, I would add the design to my product line, with permission from DTI.”

At first, orders were sparse, coming only from end users.

A breakthrough for Puyo Handicrafts took place in 2006 when the National Convention of Philippine Nurses Association was hosted by Cagayan de Oro.  Puyo was asked to supply 3000 conference bags.  “Naubos lahat ang hinabol sa buong Mindanao,” she recalls, laughing.

More orders followed.  Vivian found herself supplying bags in convention after convention.  Personal orders, some of them in bulk, came from nurses who attended the conference and liked the bags.

Familiar with fair trade shops, Vivian got in touch with stores in CdO, Bohol and Cebu and was able to book orders.

Internet savvy, she put up the Puyo Handicrafts website.  Puyo is also on Twitter and Facebook.  From such online presence, she found markets in the United States and Brunei.

Still catering to conventions, she expects an order from the Philippine Medical Association for 3500 pieces of conference bags which she plans to subcontract partly to the 11-member Misamis Oriental Multi-Fiber Cluster, Inc., of which Vivian is president.

On the market outlook, she says:  “In Mindanao, medyo mahina. Pero sa Luzon, malakas.  The purchasing power of people in CDO is limited.  But Luzon customers will find our products cheap and attractive.”

It will also help, she adds, that the larger community and society have become environment-conscious and begun to develop a preference for things natural and ecology-friendly.

(This is the original, uncut version of the article on Puyo Handicrafts submitted to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Click here for the PDI version.)