Bamboo tiles, tinapa machine, other Ilocos inventions featured in forum

BAUANG, La Union — Kawayan (bamboo) tiles, tinapa (smoked fish) processor, honey extractor, tiger grass depollenator, puto (rice cake) and longganiza (native sausage) preserver, fruit and vegetables dryer.

These were among the local inventions featured during the First National Forum and Workshop on Governance of the Regional Industry and Energy Research and Development Consortia held here last week.

Sponsored by the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the showcase of inventions from the Ilocos region aims to promote the government’s "one-town, one-product" program.

DOST Ilocos director Edgar Padilla told The STAR that all the inventions were products of local inventors, mostly working in state universities in the region.

The kawayan tiles, made from different bamboo species, were developed by Dr. Stanley Malab and engineer Jose Zafarilla of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Ilocos Norte.

Malab said the tiles are of different shapes and sizes and are more durable that any wood tiles because their strength is comparable to prime wood species like mahogany.

"This is an advanced form of bamboo products produced through a process of shaping the round bamboo pole into slats and glued together to form the desired sizes. The principle is based on the concept that like logs when converted into lumber, (bamboo) can be designed to one’s specifications," Malab said.

The kawayan tiles are mostly sold in the domestic market, but some are now being exported to Hawaii and other countries.

The smoked fish machine and multi-purpose dryer was designed and fabricated in 2002 by Zaldy Fernandez, an industrial technology professor of MMSU.

Made of stainless steel, the machine can smoke 150 percent more fish at half the time than the traditional method of processing tinapa. Through the use of charcoal and sawdust, it can also be used to roast chicken, steam, bake and dry fruits and vegetables.

Inventions from the Don Mariano Marcos State University in La Union are the tiger grass depollenator, which facilitates removal of dusty pollen and seeds of tiger grass, thus making the production of soft broom easier, and the honey extractor used to extract honey without destroying the beehive.

Also presented during the forum, which was attended by Dr. Lauro Tacbas, chairman of the Ilocos Consortium on Industry and Energy Research and Development, and engineer Raul Sabularse, PCIERD officer-in-charge, were the multi-commodity dryer, and puto and longganiza preserver.