USM receives equipment for rubber improvement

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines --- The Philippine Rubber Testing Center (PRTC) in the University of Southern Mindanao  received a P2.5-million worth of equipment needed for experiments in upgrading the competitiveness of locally processed rubber.

The equipment, supplied by the Department of Trade and Industry through its Shared Service Facility (SSF) program, is comprised of an imported "plastimeter", ageing chamber, and other instruments needed in testing the quality of locally-produced dried rubber lumps that are sold to domestic and international markets.

Officials of the DTI in Region 12, led by the department’s provincial director for North Cotabato, Anthony Bravo, initiated Wednesday the symbolic turnover of the equipment to the PRTC, one of the research outfits in the state-run USM in Kabacan town in the third district of the province.

The USM’s newly-installed president, Francisco Gil Garcia, and Bravo signed a memorandum of agreement outlining the modalities of the SSF’s equipment tranche, and how the PRTC is to maximize its use in ensuring the quality of processed rubber from the province.

Garcia said the DTI’s support to the PRTC, via the SSF, is  a boost to efforts of improving the local rubber industry, which has been booming in recent years.

The rubber ventures by private firms and individual farmers in North Cotabato  are also supported by the office of Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza.

The office of Mendoza, along with the USM, the Department of Agriculture, and the DTI, hosted last year a rubber summit at the USM campus. The activity kicked off the start of various activities in line with the commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the province on September 1 this year.

There are 107,000 hectares of prime land in the province that can be developed into rubber farms, according to studies done by the provincial government.

Provincial Board Member Loreto Cabaya, who represented Gov. Mendoza in Wednesday’s launching of the SSF project, said the provincial government will support efforts to improve the local rubber industry.

Cabaya, who is a rubber farmer himself, said propagation of rubber trees (Hevea Brazilliensis) is one approach to strengthen the agriculture-based economy of North Cotabato.

Cabaya said the political leadership in the province is grateful to the director of DTI-12, Ibrahim Guiamadel, for his role in the grant of the SSF equipment to the PRTC.

Ma. Theresa Chua, who represented Guimadel in Wednesday's event at the USM campus, said that the enhancement of the rubber testing capability of the PRTC, through SSF support, is parallel to the rubber propagation  goal of the Association of South East Asian Nations, as envisioned in the ASEAN "Integration 2015" economic development agenda.

The Integration 2015 aims to promote free flow of goods in the ASEAN markets, amid the presence of capitalists and the availability of skilled "transnational" labor forces in the Asian region.

Also present in the launching of the SSF at the USM campus were Guimadel's subordinates in DTI-12 --  Connie Barnachea, Hazel Hautea, Fe Amor Bitong-Vertido, Raul Bustamante and Ferdinand Cabiles.

The program was also witnessed by Corazon Mukthar, a state auditor assigned to DTI-12. - John Unson