A facility showing products made of ‘banig’ is soon to open in Basey town as Samar Rep. Sharee Ann Tan and Governor Michael Tan led the groundbreaking.
The facility, Lara Samar Showroom, will house the intricately woven and world-class banig products of Basey.
Rep. Tan thanked the House Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco for allocating P10 million for the banig showroom and processing center located in Barangay Canmanila.
Tan also expressed her appreciation to the Department of Tourism, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry for helping the banig industry.
Tan also mentioned Mayor Luz Ponferrada for her unconditional support towards the efforts in promoting banig products.
The Samar lawmaker said that she is positive that her bill to make Basey town as the banig capital of the Philippines will be realized.
Ricky Bautista, owner of the Henry’s Banig Shop, said that while he welcome the opening of the showroom, he admitted that this could affect the operation of other shops in the area already hit by the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease(COVID-19).
“With the onset of the health crisis, some of the banig stores have already closed shop due to low to zero customers. Now with the opening of this giant competitor, we might also consider a change of our source of income,” he added.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
