“Kan-anan sa Balsa” located in Barangay Sayao, Kumalarang, Zamboanga del Sur is just 45 minutes away from Pagadian City. The place is frequented by commuters travelling to and from Zamboanga City, exhausted from the grueling trip.
The dish is superb, satisfying your hungry but choosy palate at very affordable prices. Meals are served in bamboo cottages mounted on rafts that float over the fishpond.
How it started?
Mercedes Lourdes “Merlou” S. Quisumbing was born in a business family, with parents who started their own business through hard work and perseverance. She relates how everything started. “Sayao Farms was established in 1982 and we were into raising crabs, prawns and bangus, which had a huge demand in the market during that time,” she recounted. Her husband, Rey Quisumbing personally manages the farm.
But by the year 2000, prawn production all over the country dipped and so they ventured into tilapia culture, adopting a technology of producing “all male” tilapia to hasten the growth of the fishes.
This was also the time that they started planting mango trees, rambutan, durian, mangosteen, including the longkong variety of lanzones from Thailand which is the most expensive fruit in the world today.
Kan-anan sa Balsa
“In 2008, we put up the Kan-anan sa Balsa as a way to help the family of our laborers and provide extra income for the wives, children and other dependents of our workers,” Merlou explained.
She attributes the success of the restaurant to good and nutritious fresh foods, confidence on the skills and honesty of their workers, and above all, her trust and dependence in the Lord.
On a lazy weekend or making a long trip, the place is perfect for the whole family to enjoy and relax away from pollution, where only the sound of crickets and the cool breeze of fresh air fanning your face. The smell of rice fields and still waters of the pond, gently rippling with the movement of the fishes, golden tilapia and African catfish, going frenzy over food bits thrown in the water.
Organic farming
For the last three years when the mango industry went down and because of the unpredictable weather, they started planting vegetables such as ampalaya, cucumber, bell pepper, eggplant and corn. “We planted corn so we don’t have to buy commercial feeds of our native chickens. We also feed them with left-over foods from the restaurant,” Merlou stated.
Honestly, Merlou said she couldn’t personally be at the business 24/7 because of her commitment with the work at the Pagadian-ZDS Chamber of Commerce & Industry Foundation as president since 2006.
Formidable task
The Pagadian-Zamboanga del Sur Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. (PZCCIFI), the voice of the business sector was established in 1993 and reorganized in 2006 by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). “Fortunately, or should I say unfortunately, I was elected president,” she said in jest.
Being president of an inactive organization was a huge challenge for this lady, finding it difficult to bounce back without any funds available to support its operations.
However, after 2 years she was able to establish a connection with the United States Agency for International Development- Growth with Equity in Mindanao (USAID-GEM) for office equipment and staff support.
Quisumbing also spearheaded such advocacies as “No to Child Labor, No to Plastic, Yes to Responsible Mining” and the complete implementation of the Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) to speed up processing of business permits.
Pagadian City played host during the Mindanao Business Conference in 2011 with no less than US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas and other national and international dignitaries attending the event.
PZCCIFI reached a milestone in its existence under the sterling leadership of Merlou when they garnered the most prestigious award as the “Most Outstanding Chamber of Mindanao” and the “Most Outstanding Chamber of the Philippines” award in 2012.
This lady entrepreneur who is the epitome of hard work and determination is not in competition with her husband but simply complementing his endeavors to succeed in life. She hopes that this could inspire and influence women to lead in business, organizations and other institutions and uphold women power, aptly depicting the theme for this year’s Women’s Month, “Juana, ang Tatag Mo ay Tatag Natin sa Pagbangon at Pagsulong.”