Small Town's Big Plans

My dad's family is from a small town up north, in Nueva Vizcaya, called Aritao. (No relation to our classmate Benjamin Aritao; I'm sure, I asked him already.) It is six hours away from Manila and two hours away from Baguio. In Aritao, the air is cool at day and chilly at night, the mountain view is breathtaking, and the people are kind and friendly, even if one does not speak Ilocano. Although I grew up and is domiciled in Manila, my family (meaning my father, mother, brother and I) find ourselves going back to Aritao not just for the holy week break but also the election season, being registered voters there.

Just this week I saw my dad browsing through this small brightly-colored catalogue – a catalogue featuring the products and produce of Aritao. The catalogue was created by the municipal government, with the aim of bridging production and market consumption, and hopefully, to provide essential information to potential investor-partners and buyers.

There are sections that feature crops, fruits & vegetables, processed foods, and handicrafts, gifts, toys & housewares. Aside from product information, a company profile is also provided, which includes contact details of these enterprises. What I have noticed is that very few have landline numbers; some just provided for cell phone numbers while some simply stated “c/o Mayor's Office, Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya”. Being SME's (small and medium-scale enterprises) in a rural mountanous region, communication is indeed a problem.

I am proud to say that my kababayans have the capability to become competitive in the national, and even world, market. This started already with our dried mango and other mango products, as well as tamarind and rice, being exported abroad. For sure, the rest of them have so much more to offer. They only need the opportunity to be heard, to be known to many. This starts with government initiatives like this product catalogue, and follows-through through better communication and information facilities. Hopefully I can do something about it to help, and this starts by posting this blog entry.