PAGADIAN CITY,
December 6 - - Heeding the global call to help mitigate the impact of climate
change and reduce toxic wastes in our environment, the Department of Trade and
Industry, in cooperation with the Pagadian-Zamboanga del Sur Chamber of
Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. (PCCIFI) will host the First Provincial Bayong Fair on December 7-8
at the City Commercial Center (C3).
DTI Provincial
Director Ma. Socorro M. Atay said the fair will showcase the different
creations of bayong from various groups and entrepreneurs who are into bayong
making in the province. It aims to create awareness and appreciation of
Zamboanga del Sur’s potential and capability on bayong making and other
handicrafts.
There are eleven
(11) association and SMEs who are presently engaged in bayong making in the
province. The bayong ang handicrafts industry have become income-earners for
local producers with the
intervention of different government institutions.
From the
humble basket of our forefathers destined only for the wet market, the bayong
has evolved into a fashionable and contemporary creation for the modern
Filipino.
Zamboanga del Sur
has taken its share in developing our traditional wet market bayong into
fashionable creative designs. These are woven out of the most common raw
materials available in the province such as pandan, seagrass, abaca, rattan and
other indigenous materials. The bayong has indeed come a long way, found its track
in the market and has now gone international.
With the growing
interest and demand for bayong in the country, it has truly expanded beyond its
reputation as just a wet market bag. (DTI/ALT-PIA9/ZamboSur)