The Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF) refuted earlier press statements issued by Manila Now 2008 chairman Eduardo Zuluaga that the main reason the group launched their furniture show here was to get the support of CebuX International Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition on advertising mileage.
Zuluaga recently told The FREEMAN that the main objective of their Cebu launching was to persuade CebuX to collaborate with them in promoting the Philippine furniture industry in international shows and reach a wider market while minimizing expenses now incurred by the two group’s separate media promotions.
However, CFIF executive director Ruby B. Salutan said Zuluaga’s statement is a pretense as talks of a possible merger with the Manila group has been ongoing for the past three years.
Salutan along with CFIF President Michael Basubas said, in an interview during the recent Mandaue Chamber’s Business Forum held at the Cebu International Convention Center, the issue on collaboration has been taken up time and again but apparently they deemed that the proper time has not yet come for the two organizations to consolidate.
Salutan said, although it is important for the two groups to merge and hold a single international furniture show, the issue on where to hold the show has consistently derailed the negotiations.
“These two shows are considered very small in terms of international standard but there are issues the two groups could not agree on, especially when it comes to the venue,” Salutan said.
CFIF is trying to convince the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP) to hold the exhibition in Cebu considering that it has the biggest furniture cluster in the country.
However, CFIP insists to hold the show in Manila claiming that it has larger customer traffic taking into account that it is the capital of the Philippines.
Salutan said that Zuluaga might have been “grossly misinformed or if not totally uninformed” upon saying his thoughts to the media.
Although CFIF agreed that collaboration would be the right thing to do for both organization and that they do not averse to that efforts, they just think that Zuluaga’s statements were “not expressed in good taste.”
As a result, CFIF will be writing a formal letter addressed to the President of CFIP Roxanne Aquino to inform them about the “irresponsible statements” made by Zuluaga and the effects it has on the members of the CFIF.
CFIF’s letter indicated that a Consolidation Committee was actually formed to initiate the consolidation of the two shows and it was headed by Nicolaas de Lange for CFIP and Charles Streegan for CFIF.
The letter reads, “It cannot be said that both parties did not exert its best effort to make the merger of the two shows work. Unfortunately however, the time for this merger has not yet come.”
The letter also indicated a much bigger initiative that was pushed which was termed as “Collaboration Initiative.” This parallel move was started by CFIP and the CFIF with the support of Pearl 2 through the Development Academy of the Philippines aimed to harness collective strengths of the different furniture associations all over the country and unify them under one truly national furniture association crafting a Philippine Furniture Industry Strategic Roadmap.
In 2001, CFIF withdrew its affiliation from CFIP concurrently ending its joint collaboration in marketing and promotion of the usual back-to-back international furniture shows in Cebu and Manila held at the end week of February.
From then on, CFIF operated as an independent furniture body attracting membership base not only from Cebu province, but other neighboring provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao as well.