Brass producers get aid from DTI

COTABATO
CITY - A poorly equipped group producing traditional
exportable brassware out of scrap bronze is the latest beneficiary of
the government’s trade empowerment intervention Shared Service Facility
(SSF). The
office of the Department of Trade and Industry in Cotabato City on
Wednesday provided the production center in Kalangangan District here of
the Cotabato Brassware Association (CBA) with P177, 776 - worth of SSF equipment to boost the group’s productivity. The
DTI had earlier extended SSF intervention, in form of equipment
support, a local Muslim business chamber, an organization of fishpond
owners and workers engaged in smoked milkfish (bangus) production, and
an association of residents manufacturing bags and home decors out of
dried water hyacinth stalks. Carlito
Nuñez, in-charge of the city’s DTI office, and Mohammad Mang, president
of the CBA, whose members are skilled brassware craftsmen from the
Kalangangan District here and from nearby Sultan Kudarat town in
Maguindanao, signed last Wednesday an agreement on the SSF equipment
package. The
equipment include a furnace-type oven for curing molten scrap brass,
grinders, a 13 millimeter push drill, an air compressor and a blower,
and electric motors for improvised buffing facilities. The
DTI’s office in Region 12, which has jurisdiction over Cotabato City,
had earlier entered into SSF tie-ups with producers of processed foods
and traditional products in other provinces in Central Mindanao. The
SSF packages were released through the provincial offices of the DTI-12
in Sarangani, South Cotabato, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. The
turnover of the equipment to beneficiaries were observed by
representatives from the Commission on Audit and supply and property
inspection officers of the regional office of DTI-12. The
SSF program in Cotabato City, which started in 2013, is meant to
empower community-level industries to generate employment and boost the
productivity of beneficiary groups. Nuñez
told the brassware producers to maximize the use of the SSF equipment
to ensure the quality and competitiveness of their products. Nuñez
said the group, the latest to benefit from the SSF intervention for
local entrepreneurs, must maintain the condition of their equipment,
based on the agreement he and Mang signed last Wednesday.