Agriculture.ph Blog

Roll back on Boer bucks

One piece of good news we just learned is that the major breeders of Boer goats have rolled back their prices on purebred bucks in an attempt to encourage the use of purebred animals to improve the body size and meat quality of the existing native and other imported breeds in the country.

Rene Almeda of Alaminos Goat Farm in Alaminos, Laguna, had just informed us while we were preparing this page that he had decided to reduce the price of purebred Boer bucks. What used to sell for P24,000 to P30,000 per head has been reduced by half, from P12,000 to P15,000 per head. And the other good news, he said, is that another competitor has followed suit.

He said, however, that the purebred female Boer goats are still priced at P24,000 per head.

The move to reduce the prices of purebred Boer goats is hoped to enable more goat raisers to use purebreds to upgrade their stocks. The government could then buy locally bred purebred animals instead of importing from abroad what it needs in its goat improvement program. It is very essential that purebreds should be used to improve the local animals. If a buck of mixed blood is used, the resulting progenies may not be as uniform as when a purebred animal is used.

What is needed now is to improve the weight of animals for slaughter so that the raisers will be able to increase their incomes from their animals. The native goats usually weigh an average of 18 kilos at slaughter time. If the animals could be improved to 30 to 50 kilos at maturity, the income could be doubled. At present, the live weight price of slaughter goats is P120 per kilo. And so the going average price per head is just about P2,400 to P2,800.

Almeda says that it has been proven that the Boer goat will greatly improve the size and meat quality of the offspring of the native and other breeds now raised by local farmers. In Australia, he said, theBoer goat was used to sire the feral goats there and now that country is the biggest exporter of goat’s meat to the United States.

Written by Zac Sarian

Source: Manila Bulletin

Goat farm targets big RP milk market

“The Philippines is importing 99 percent of its milk requirements as it produces only one percent of the total.”

Thus said owner Rene Almeda of the Alaminos Goat Farm (AGF) to illustrate the magnitude of the local market that his dairy products and those of other goat milk producers can supply.

AGF, according to Almeda, is stepping up its marketing offensive by showcasing an extended line of dairy products at the forthcoming Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink 2009, which is slated at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on October 8 to 10.

AGF is the maker of Milk Star, the pioneering fresh goat’s milk brand to be commercially produced and distributed at SM and Robinson’s supermarkets across Metro Manila.

“Milk Star was the darling of the visitors in Agrilink last year. But for this year’s show, AGF will feature, not only pasteurized milk, but also ice cream, leche flan, barquillos and cheese, all made from goat’s milk,” Almeda pointed out.

The market for fresh goat’s milk continues to expand as consumers learn more about its health benefits, including ease of digestibility and low cholesterol.

“As awareness grows about the availability of goat’s milk in the supermarkets, a lot of doctors are starting to prescribe it as an alternative medicine for their patients suffering from cancer, lactose intolerance and constipation,” Almeda stressed.

The AGF started out in 1993 when Almeda was asked by his son Art to embark on a goat project on their 16-hectare property, where they used to fatten feedlot cattle from Australia. Soon Almeda’s younger son Toti joined the business and handled marketing.

But it was after importing 100 purebred Saanen goats in May 2007 that the Almedas officially ventured into the dairy business. “It was a challenge to prove that one can milk Saanen dairy goats profitably in a tropical country like the Philippines,” Almeda said.

In the past, the government had imported a sizeable number of Saanen goats under the PL 480 program of the United States, but nothing significant came out of it.

Almeda observed that the Saanens adapted faster to the country’s hot, humid and wet weather than the Boers from Australia. “They (Saanens) love the fresh forage grass and legumes in Alaminos, Laguna,” he said.

By November 2007, they were milking their first Saanen and subsequently marketing the Milk Star fresh pasteurized goat’s milk.

As one of the country’s finest goat farms, the AGF has a herd of about 300 Saanens and some 600 Boers and Anglo Nubians.

“What’s good about Saanen goats is that they can produce at least two liters of milk a day for up to 300 days after giving birth. The Anglo Nubian, on the other hand, is considered a dual breed (good for meat and milk) such that it cannot produce milk for the same span of time. Nonetheless, the Anglo Nubian can give birth three times in two years, hence it can produce more kids than the Saanen,” Almeda explained.

“AGF will also showcase its prime cuts of goat meat based on industry standards. The soft launch of ‘GOAT MEAT: The World’s Most Friendly Red Meat’ will be held at Agrilink 2009,” Almeda announced.

Source: Manila Bulletin

Struggling dairy sector gropes for local foothold

DAVAO CITY—Foreign dairy companies remained in control of the country’s dairy supply with the Philippines’ own industry able to muster only a miniscule portion of the market demand for milk, cheese, butter and other dairy products.

Raylin Sanchez, overall project manager of the Davao Milk Processing Plant of the National Dairy Authority (NDA), said that the five main dairy stations in the Philippines could supply 6 percent of the market demand.

“The Philippines relies heavily on imported dairy products,” she told a group of visiting personnel last week from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) who visited the plant site that used a DOST-designed pasteurizing and sterilizing machine.

In the National Dairy Development Plan 2008-2030, the government has placed milk production at 13.23 million liters in 2007 and 14.7 million liters the following year.

Local milk and dairy production is mainly done in the dairy stations here and Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao, in Cebu City in the Visayas, and in Santa Maria, Bulacan, and Santa Cruz, Laguna, in Luzon, although some dairy farms are maintained by some state-run agricultural schools.

The struggling country’s dairy industry relies mostly in local reproduction of the hybrid cattle heads sparsely distributed to the available they could get from the sparse importation to stay afloat.

An inventory the government made to come up with its development plan said there were only 9,000 heads of cattle, and Sanchez said the Davao station has only 1,500 of this number, slightly half, or 600 heads, were lactating. Slightly more than half of the number of cattles here were part of the aging group of Holstein Frissian and Sahiwal breeds from New Zealand given to the Davao station when it was established in 1990.

The Davao station maintains some of the cattle heads, but many of them were distributed to the livestock farmers within the 20-kilometer radius of the plant and farm in Calinan, about 30 kilometers north of downtown Davao City.

Each farmer would be given a three-head package of pregnant cattle, and payment was made in easy milk-production term arrangement to entice farmers and provide them livelihood.

The three cattles would produce a daily average of eight liters, where the farmer would be required to give 1.5 liter of this to the NDA as his payment in installment for the next five years.

“We buy the raw milk from them at P20 per liter and sell them commercially at P45 to P50 a liter,” Sanchez said.

“Quality milk has been our trademark, and we are proud to say that there have been no cases of items being returned to us due to spoilage,” she said. “While shelf life is not long, we have a market that ensures that all we displayed are being bought.”

The Davao station produces an average daily yield of 1,500 liters of fresh milk and another 1,200 liters from the farmers maintaining the dispersed cattles.

Aside from Davao City, the milk and milk products were being distributed in North Cotabato, General Santos City, Cotabato City and Agusan del Sur.  It already earned P2 million as of the end of August this year.

It sells fresh unflavored and flavored milk in 500- and 1,000-millimeter bottles and white cheese in packs.

The DOST has helped the plant with providing the design for the pasteurizing and sterilizing machine. Sanchez said the DOST-designed machine has helped the station bring down the procurement expense to only one-tenth of the actual market price.

A brand new Pasteur machine would cost P20 million, but the DOST-designed machine has slashed the price to only P2 million, mostly by commissioning a local fabricator.

The government has since eyed a buildup of dairy animals at a rate of 14 percent annually, from an inventory of 9,000 heads in 2007 to more than 185,000 heads in 2030.

Under the development plan, “there would be an infusion of new dairy animals [that] shall come from local sources to minimize the costs of importing from other countries. Strategies to upgrade animals for dairy will be carried out to ensure dairy herd buildup.”

This would mean that the NDA–assisted dairy projects “will increase [milk production] from 9 million liters to 220 million liters by 2030. This will be equivalent to 70-percent average contribution to national production for the period 2008-2030.”

In the same plan, the aggressive development of the milk industry would be intended to encourage massive milk consumption by children to combat malnutrition.

Written Written by Manuel T. Cayon

Source: Business Mirror

Goat meat project set

The development of a standard for goat meat cuts and value-added products from goat meat is the objective of a new project spearheaded by Alaminos Goat Farm (AGF) of Laguna and the Animal Products Development Center (APDC) of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

Rene Almeda, who operates AGF with sons Art and Toti, said that APDC is providing its facilities, manpower and expertise in slaughtering in its modern facilities in Marulas, Valenzuela City to come up with a standard for goat meat cuts. APDC will also develop smoked sausages from goat’s meat.

Research work would be undertaken to gather data in slaughtering Boer goats weighing 30 to 50 kilos which will be provided by the Alaminos Goat Farm. Almeda said that the dress weight percentage and the bone-to-meat ratio of the Boer goats would be recorded, and the results will be compared with the typical native goats slaughtered below 20 kilos.

Almeda said that Alaminos Goat Farm would like to show with the results of this project that the Boer breed could play a vital role in coming up with goat meat standards. He adds that the introduction of Boer bucks in upgrading the local herd to produce commercial goats for slaughter with a minimum weight of 30 kilos would go a long way for goat raisers to achieve the minimum standard size for slaughter.

Almeda adds that in Australia, Boer bucks were used to breed their feral goats to produce goat meat for export. Goat meat is considered as the red meat with lowest cholesterol content.

Written by Zac Sarian

Source: Manila Bulletin

FREE-RANGE CHICKEN SEMINAR

Dr. Rey Itchon of Solraya Enterprises will conduct a seminar of raising free-range Sunshine chickens
on September 7, Monday, at the university auditorium of the Central Luzon State University in Muñoz City, Nueva Ecija. Sunshine chicken is fast becoming popular for growing in the backyard or on the range because it is fast-growing. In just 45 to 60 days, the chicken can weigh 1.2 to 1.5 kilos.

Dr. Itchon is also scheduled to conduct a seminar on raising Sunshine chickens in Bohol on September 21. Email: info@solraya.com for more information.

The Lady of Malagos Cheeses

It seemed like it was only yesterday when I first met Olive Puentespina in her little booth at a food trade exhibit in Davao, where I was totally smitten by her feta and pecorino-style cheeses from their goat farm. Besides what I thought was a darn good product, I also saw the fire of enthusiasm in the eyes of a true artisan and innovator, which are rare persons you don’t often meet. These are people who are not afraid to swim in unexplored waters and believe in their product.

She started with her husband, raising goats of the Boer variety which are large and bred for their meat because of their size.  Unfortunately, the goat’s sensitivity to the high mineral content of the grass in the farm forced the couple to crossbreed them with Anglo Nubians. They suddenly had a sizeable surplus of milk, and this led to her making feta and fresh goat cheese.  People who sampled her first cheeses were astounded with the quality, and eventually, she teamed up with Karin Carmona of PIECO to market her cheeses in Metro Manila.

By 2006, her cheese was cited by the Cheese Club of the Philippines as Cheese of the Month. She received an award of excellence in a trade fair and her cheeses were served on board Philippine Airlines business class by 2008.

I’m very proud to say that I was a partial contributor to her growing up by asking her to cross the line and make for me her first big wheels, which I served for my birthday alongside foreign cheeses. These huge wheels, which were aged for another three months, became such scene stealers that you will now find them on wine tastings and hotel buffets.

This year was a crossroad for Olive, who with the same fire and passion went on a cheese journey and attended lectures on artisanal cheese making abroad.  Eventually, she ended up as a resource speaker, because her non-classic methods baffled cheese makers, such as making cheese at 35 degrees Celsius which supposedly derails sound cheese making principles.

Recently, I was invited to the Malagos Garden Resort, owned by the Puentespinas, in Calinan for a preview of new cheeses she was ready to launch and developing. Over lunch, it was clear how the artisanal and entrepreneurial spirit is cultivated among the Puentespina family whose focus is on their farm produce.

Lunch was simple and straightforward, but almost all that was served had emanated from the farm. We started out with a fresh salad basket of newly-harvested French beans, watercress, cherry tomatoes, and slivers of fresh kesong puti that was infused with green peppercorn and some with basil, which will be exclusive to Philippine Airlines. A tasty main course of grilled free-range Sasso chicken and some smoky pork ribs kept us on an enjoyable discussion on the qualities of Calinan chocolate and cacao.

We then had fruits like langka, durian, and chicos, all harvested from the farm. And to keep up with the Malagos-themed lunch, we had a pure tabliya chocolate cake, which boasted of the qualities of cacao grown in the area and had a beautiful balance of fruitiness, earthiness, spice, and winey appeal.

I cannot fully express the delight I felt when I was shown the variety of cheeses that she had ready as commercial samples. I could safely say that she could be the first Philippine cheese master, having created all these varieties that are unique in themselves and world class.  It was a pity I did not bring good wines or even a stash of Belgian beers to pair with such wonderful creations.

Here is a list of cheeses from that private preview (our foodie readers don’t have to be jealous because by the time they read this article, many of her cheeses will be available. Call Karin Carmona at 892 8286/752 3330 or email her at karincarmona@yahoo.com [1] and olivepp_ph@yahoo.com [2].):

Classic Cheeses

These cheeses are Olive’s mainstays and the first cheeses that she produced.

Feta. Sharp and tangy with a mild bite and not as salty as traditional feta, Olive is passionate about this one. She describes it as taking a trip to the Amalfi Coast or the Mediterranean whenever you taste it.

Chevre. This French-style goat cheese is lightly crumbly with small particles, with light acid, and good for spreading.

Kesong Puti Style. Less acidic with a silky mouthfeel, it is lightly chewy and great for slicing and salads.

Pecorino Type. This cheese is excellent for grating, but is sometimes a little too dry for plain eating. Blending it with cheese sauces will give the sauce a good boost.

New Cheeses

These are cheeses that had come out in the past two years and some that are to be launched.

Blue Goat. This is a medium-textured cheese surrounded by a blue mold and has mild flavor due to its uninfected interior. Personally, I recommend punching micro holes in this cheese to infect the interior.  I had this after four months of aging and it sure beats a lot of the Danish and Spanish medium blue cheeses.

Aged Pepato. Made from aged cow’s milk with green peppercorns, this is one of my favorites and has gained a lot of international respect among cheese makers and cheese masters. Complex and winey with brined olive, fermented flavors, and meaty notes, it is delicious melted or grilled.

PAL Cheese. This one is silky and velvety with light chewy attributes and infused with herbs and spices like basil, rosemary, and pepper, among others. Unfortunately, it might not be available to mere mortals who can’t afford business class.

Blush. This cheese is marinated in Malagos bignay wine and has complex flavors of dried fruit and fermented flavors mixing with the creaminess of cheese, which gives character to this creation.

Goat Camembert. On its maiden launch, it has an angelic white mold exterior, with grassy, flowery flavors and a creamy interior with the lightest hint of goat.

Manchego. This cheese is sharp, with medium hardness, light flavors reminiscent of goat, and traces of nuttiness.

Experimental Prototypes

These are future cheeses that we pre-tasted, and according to Olive, need a little work.

Blue Manchego. Made from a goat and cow’s milk blend with a medium texture, light blue streaks give this cheese another dimension to the sharpness of the Manchego style. Of course, since I am a lover of ripe cheeses, I prefer this two or three months more, when it is fully veined.

Blue Pecorino. Another hard blue cheese experiment that has very good potential, it is unfortunate that its blue veining is uneven and inconsistent, and has a hard time invading or infecting the cheese because of its hardness.

Fromage Pres.  A stroke of genius on Olive’s part, this one is a fresh cheese that is immediately served after it has been hung and removed of its whey. This is a scattered unshaped cheese, an incurred form, which is very much like ancient homemade cheeses served after fermentation. I hope that she sells this already, because it has a long shelf life anyway.

Lord of the Stink. I had this prototype a long time ago, which I served to some cheese lovers and wine aficionados who actually found the cheese with “character” but not at all that stinky. I don’t think Olive will be able to create this cheese again because the aroma produced by this cheese takes over her whole aging room. But, I still think this is one of the best cheeses she has ever produced. However, it is definitely not for the uninitiated.

Written by Gene Gonzalez

Source: Manila Bulletin

Retired soldier takes on farming tour of duty

Retired general Alexander Bellen is still on duty – but now it’s on his sheep farm where he is marshaling various technologies for sheep breeder stock production and deploying these technologies successfully.

During the field day on July 16 at his Science and Technology-based Farm (STBF) in Naguilian, Isabela, the former soldier was in fighting form when he shared his experiences and best practices as a Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) of the Cagayan Valley Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (CVARRD).  Specifically, MS Bellen showcased 40 forage species, separate grass production areas, grass-legume feed mixture and growing food-feed crops, among other technologies and practices.

Gen. Bellen shared that he grows around 40 forage species in his nursery.  This thriving collection is aggregated from the materials obtained from the provincial Bureau of Soils, Isabela Breeding Station, Small Ruminant Center at the Central Luzon State University, Philippine Carabao Center, Animal and Dairy Science Cluster at University of the Philippines at Los Baños, and other farms that he has visited.

According to Bellen, he separated the paddocks from the area for grass production and devoted one hectare of land solely for this purpose.  He used additional forage and trees as fence materials.  To cut on costs, he encouraged farmers to start planting fence posts for enclosure and to make sure these are already established before letting the goats graze in the area.   He recommended providing animals with a mix of grass and legume forage because of the nutrient contents and observing which species the animals prefer so that more of these could be planted.

Gen. Bellen’s strategy includes growing food-feed crops – those that can be used as food for people and feed for livestock – such as corn, a crop suitable in Isabela.  He encouraged the farmers to read reference materials on the recent technological developments and to attend seminars and agriculture fairs.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sergio Darang from the local Farmers’ Information Technology Services (FITS) Center presented the results of his group’s comparative analysis of the native vegetation versus improved forage (Humidicola) in Gen. Bellen’s farm. Based on the calculations, a 1-ha pasture with native grass can sustain only 16 ewes, while the same area planted with Humidicola can sufficiently feed 41.

Dr. Geronima Ludan, Livestock Division Chief from the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit-2, acknowledged the contribution of Gen. Bellen to the advancement of sheep breeder production through his role as MS.  She also mentioned the potential of Region II in becoming the country’s top goat and sheep producer, because of the large volume of crop by-products and the vast areas of land that can be used for pasture and forage production.

Dr. Arturo Argañosa from the Technology Outreach and Promotion Division of PCARRD noted the importance of pasture development in raising ruminants.  He also stressed the role of PCARRD in bringing together various sectors to test and promote technologies aimed at improving people’s livelihoods.

FITS centers, which offer information and technology services to farmers, and MS with STBF are two components of the Techno Gabay Program, one of the banner programs of PCARRD.

Written by I.V. Domingo, S&T Media Service

Source: Pcarrd

Pag-asa Farms: A haven amid banana farms

FAST becoming a famous landmark in the municipality of Kapalong and in Davao del Norte is Pag-asa Farms, an experience of nature conveniently located amidst lush banana plantations just 10 minutes ride away from the town center.

The ranch features a five-hectare orchid garden of varied species, different trees and shrubs, a mini-zoo boasting of exotic birds and animals.

The Cabana function hall, an open building allowing the cool breeze to carry in the sweet fragrance of flowers, can accommodate at least 100 people and is ideal for seminars and conferences.

Pag-asa Farms boasts three classy rooms good for three persons each available for overnight accommodations. A very affordable price of P750 per room includes free breakfast which includes their specialties like lechon de leche, spare ribs and other mouth-watering cuisine depending on the client’s choices.

If you’re lucky, you might be fortunate to dine on ostrich meat and eggs.

Evelyn Mercado, sister of Toy Mercado who owns and manages Pag-asa Farms, said they are targetting Cabana to be complete and fully operational by November in time to accommodate the holiday visitors. It is presently undergoing renovation.

Pag-asa Farms is also home to the largest of all the bird species in the world, the ostrich. There are about 48 ostriches here and an ostrich egg incubator.

Alfonso Biñan Jr., one of the staff of Pag-asa Farms, explains that an ostrich can lay as many as 30 eggs in a year and it hatches within 42 days in an incubator.

Survival rate however, is only around 50 percent of the eggs.

The price of ostrich meat hovers from P900 to P1,000 per kilo while an ostrich egg can fetch a market price from P600 to P800 each.

“You can cook ostrich meat with recipes like steak, salpicao with mushrooms, adobo, and other ways of cooking it and it is fat-free, definitely no cholesterol,” Ms. Pardo said.

An ostrich egg, which is equivalent to ten or 11 chicken eggs weighs about 1.5 kgs. Hard boiling an ostrich egg though, will take more than three hours as the shell is very hard. An ostrich egg omelet would be enough to feed 8 men or 10 women, Ms. Parcon said.

Pag-asa Farms is worth a visit, a place ideal for agro-forestry educational tours, fieldtrips and visits. In fact, a trip to Kapalong will not be complete without dropping by. To get there, one has board an hour’s trip in a jeep from Tagum City to Kapalong. From there, get in touch with the Kapalong tourism office at tel. nos. (084) 371-0703 or (084) 371-0661 and contact Edna Bernardino-Parcon.

Written By Raquel C. Bagnol

Source: Sun Star

Eggs sold per kilo

ANGELES CITY — The Department of Agriculture (DA) here has initiated actions toward selling eggs on a per kilo basis in all markets in Central Luzon.

The move is connected with the National Government’s initiative that seeks to do away with the “per piece,” “tumpok” or “per tray” sale of eggs.

The DA here held an Egg Consultative Meeting dubbed as “Changing the Trading System of Eggs in the Philippines” at the Lewis Grand Hotel here recently.

DA Regional Director Redentor Gatus stressed that the selling of eggs per kilo would benefit traders, consumers, and egg producers.

Currently, eggs are sold according to quality, size, and color.

With the new system, he said egg prices would be more stable and egg producers would be able to meet projected sales to ease out production costs.

In the pre-implementation stage of the said program, the DA is set to conduct consultative meetings and dialogues with stakeholders so as to devise acceptable strategies and set up a Project Monitoring and Evaluation System.

Gatus said that coordination with concerned government agencies would be put in place to ensure the thorough implementation of the new system.

The DA will also launch a massive information campaign “to heighten the realization on the benefits one can derive from the per kilo system.”

“There is a big difference between farm gate prices compared to retail prices of eggs.  In the sale of eggs per kilo there would be more fair prices on eggs regardless of size,” Gatus said.

Director Arthur Baron of the National Federation of Egg Producers in the Philippines (NFEPP) said with the per kilo system, the time and manpower energy consuming task of classifying eggs according to size would no longer be necessary.

According to Baron, classifying eggs sometimes results to damaging eggs.

He added that the new system “would curve out bad practices of retailers and traders on the selling of eggs in the market like fraudulent per piece trading of eggs.”

This would also expedite the monitoring and marketing of eggs. (Ian Ocampo Flora)

Source: Sun Star

Annual Laguna fest expected to increase ‘kesong puti’ production

WHITE-cheese (kesong puti) makers in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, are bracing for more demand for the product when the city holds its annual Kesong Puti Festival in October.  The town will hold its cheese festival from October 26 to 30.

Mayor Ariel Magcalas, in a news conference for the event,  said that cheese- making has remained a back-yard business for many of the families, but there are programs to make the growing industry sustainable.

“[Cheese-making] is not a big industry for us, but the impact of the industry is big [for Sta. Cruz],” Magcalas said.

He added that only 100 families are producing kesong puti, but since the event is becoming yearly, there are expectations that more families will be into cheese-making in the future and boost the town’s tourism.

Sta. Cruz’s traditional white cheese only uses native carabao milk, as mixing it with cow milk will give it a less-than-perfect result, officials said.

Many families involved in cheese production, however, do not have their own carabao and depend on their milk supply from cow-owning families.

Local officials are giving subsidies for other families to tend the animals until such time that they can be ready to produce milk for the cheese producers.

Milk from native carabao can only be taken from lactating mothers at certain hours of the day, making cheese production more difficult.

“And not all carabaos that we have now are lactating,” officials said, adding that a carabao will only get pregnant once in 10 months.

Local officials estimate that at any given time, they can only produce about 15 to 30 liters of carabao milk for cheese production. No other data on the industry were available.

Many of the carabaos, however, are being slaughtered for their meat, but Magcalas said they have already distributed about 10 carabaos to the communities as part of their dispersal program.

The country’s dairy industry is limited, made up only of a couple of big companies. Most dairy products available in the country are imported. Very small quantities are produced from domestic farms, many of which have remained a back-yard business.

The Sta. Cruz cheese festival is usually celebrated for nine days, but this year will only be held for five days.

Sta. Cruz, the capital of Laguna, is a first-class municipality with an annual income of about P168 million.

Written by VG Cabuag

Source: Business Mirror