The Lady with a Passion for Banig Bags
Name: Josie Dela Cerna
Branch: San Carlos City, Negros Occidental
Project Group: Project Dungganon since 1996
Businesses: Retail of Hand-Woven Pandan Bags, Small Swine Raising, Passenger Jeepney, etc.
Ever since Josie Dela Cerna started her handicraft business, she already had the penchant for making ladies bags and jewelry boxes, among others. Her unwavering passion for the craft opened untold opportunities for her business and the people she contracts for her business activity.
Admittedly, she has never had any kind of formal training in hand weaving “pandan” bags. She learned the art from her mother who used to make big jewelry boxes when she was still a young girl.
To upgrade her skills, she goes to city bazaars when she has the time and would browse through the native bag sections for the latest designs and carefully observes each item she sees. She also patterns her designs from the make of bags of other women when she travels. Her husband, Johnny, 42, who never dreamed to be a bag maker has learned to love bag making too.
After getting married, the couple started their new life in a hut made of bamboo and coco-leaves that Johnny constructed. Even without the proper educational background, Josie who only completed grade six while Johnny first year high school, the couple decided to start up a very small sari-sari store with the help of Josie’s grandfather since they had no means to earn a living.
Being natives of Calatrava, Negros Occidental - a hilly barangay with much of undulating terrain with the pandan plant growing naturally even though it is not cultivated, Josie saw a very big potential in the plant as a hand weaving business that would help secure the future of her family.
In 1985, Josie learned that a native bag exporter from Bacolod City was looking for people who are skilled in handicrafts. Qualified applicants are to coordinate with the Office of the National Cottage Industry and Development Authority (NACIDA) at Calatrava town.
Josie did not let this opportunity pass by. With the help of her uncle, she visited NACIDA Office. The NACIDA Office (not defunct), that facilitates and brokers the production and orders of the handicrafts, interviewed and tested her skills.
The office made a placement for an initial order of around 20 pieces each of jewelry boxes, medium-sized ladies bags, small bags and boxes for shoes which were all made out of pandan leaves. With the help of her husband, they produced the orders and were able to meet the requirements and specifications of NACIDA that resulted to subsequent orders. When NACIDA stopped operating in Calatrava, Josie was already supplying more than a hundred pieces of bags, jewelry boxes and related products to her customers in Bacolod City.
This sudden boom in the business, which initially employed only 15 people, progressed to bigger openings. Josie had no difficulty training her workers, majority of which are women, because most were indigenous mat weavers.
“Even the children know how to weave mats made of pandan leaves,” Josie said.
She patiently taught them everything. When it comes to more intricate and difficult designs, Josie individually contracts the orders to her more experienced workers who do the work from their home. The finished products are delivered to Josie’s house where it is examined for quality control.
Josie designs all her bags from the simplest ones to the more complex patterns. It was a natural gift she felt she had since the onset of her business. She still looks at magazines and other designs, not to copy or follow, but to study fashion trends that would make her products be at par or compete with the outside market.
When Project Dungganon opened a center in their barangay in 1996, Josie decided to join without any hesitation and got her first loan of P2,000.00. She used this money to expand her sari-sari store project while her subsequent loans were used to finance her growing handicraft business.
With fresh cash inflows, the volume of production increased by 200 percent to 10,000 pieces of finished products fortnightly. Order peaks from August to September of each year reaching 60,000 of finished goods a month. Highest orders are on bags and throw pillows that go on sale in domestic and export markets.
In 2003, deciding to expand her market, Josie and her husband explored other possible market outlets by selling their products to Cebu, Iloilo and Manila while establishing regular customers in these areas. To date, the production of an average of 60,000 pieces of various native pandan-made handicrafts a month, has set a milestone in the lifestyle that Josie and her husband have achieved.
Josie recognizes that without the workers’ hard work, perseverance and a good disposition, the business wouldn’t have prospered. According to her, each regular worker receives no less than P500.00 a week. At present, Josie contracts 110 people, 80 of which are regular employees with 30 seasonal workers.
In spite of the growing hand weaving business, Josie has entered into other types of enterprise - backyard swine raising, partnership in a passenger jeepney transportation and a standing cane business. Her decision to expand into other avenues was prompted by the uncertainty in the economical market. She believes that the diversification into other businesses can still help with the expenses while reaching goals that may give them a more comfortable life.
Presently, the couple lives in a big concrete house with an existing second floor that they started in 2003. With a multi-cab acquired in 2001, a canter purchased early this year and a sound system that was given as a business to their only child, Josie doesn’t want to slow down. She wants to keep going as long as her eyes will allow it, her body can take it and her will is inspired.
When asked how she was able to attain all these, Josie states that, “I think what matters most in life is that you have the passion in what you are doing. Value your work, your time and your dreams. These are our priceless assets. Believing in yourself, what you can accomplish and above all else, God.”