Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

Bread & Butter! Western Visayas
Best Bakery Shop!

In 1986, the couple Guidon & Cynthia Dela Cruz started to sell pandesal in their neighborhood at Barangay Estancia, Kalibo, Aklan. With one baker and a small oven, the couple started to experiment on making bread. The fresh bread was sold in a four (4) square meter store located along Osmeña Ave., Kalibo, Aklan.

The bakery products were well received by a growing number of customers. New products were developed and new stores were built. The bakery shop was built right at the back of an old house.

The success of Bread & Butter spread to leading supermarkets and stores in the neighboring provinces of Capiz, Antique and Iloilo.

In 2002, the company ventured into franchising and opened its 1st Franchise store at Kalibo, Aklan.

In 2003, Bread & Butter opened the biggest bakery commissary in Northern Panay Island. This is serving the growing number of Bread & Butter stores in Panay Island. Today, Bread & Butter has 21 stores. More stores are planned to open.

Bread & Butter has received various local and national awards and recognition for its innovative and marketing practices. The most recent is the award given by the Philippine Marketing Excellence Awards as the Most Outstanding Bakeshop – Visayas Awards for 2005.

Bread & Butter is a member of the Philippine Franchise Association and the Aklan Ati-Atihan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc. It was also endorsed and recognized as a SME model of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and the Dept. of Trade & Industry.

801 Aklan TESDA Scholars

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) appears proud for giving scholarships to 801 Aklanons for the period April – June 2009.

According to TESDA report, 100 Aklanons enrolled in "Tek Bok", 150 in May, and 551 in June. Tek-Bok courses include: 1. Household Service Worker NCII, 2. Commercial Cooking NCII, Food and Beverage NC II, and 3. House-keeping NCII.

As TESDA scholars (Pangulong Gloria Scholars), they enjoy free tuition and a minimum daily allowance of P60. Those who have successfully completed the course and passed the TESDA assessment are issued National Certificate (NCII) which is used to apply for work in the Philippines and abroad.

Are TESDA courses and training programs designed to develop human resource who will stay and develop the Philippines into a progressive country? TESDA itself may make its own assessment of its policies, programs, projects, and activities. Is TESDA producing graduates for the Pilipinos and the Philippines? Is TESDA training Pilipinos for the foreigners and foreign countries?

I’m afraid, one morning, Pilipinos in the Philippines will wake up finding the best and the brightest Pilipinos have left the Philippines. TESDA must realize that the most important and valuable resource of any country is her human resource.

All resources like land, money, water among others are rendered inutile sans progressive human resources. The Philippines is the world’s richest in natural resources which are left wasted and under-developed because our best and brightest citizens have gone abroad. /MP