'Kapeng Barako' King is Halyao Awardee

SORSOGON CITY, June 4 (PNA) -- He started here 25 years ago as a street peddler of bottled vinegar and soy sauce. Today, Francisco Aranda is a successful businessman credited for putting Sorsogon province on the coffee map of the Philippines.

In 2008, Aranda was named "Outstanding High Value Commercial Crop Farmer" in the prestigious Gawad Saka Awards of the Department of Agriculture (DA)and last May 15, he was among the five successful businessmen in Bicol given this year's Halyao Awards during the 5th Bicol Business Week celebrations in Naga City.

The affair, now on its fifth year is the region's biggest annual gathering of Bicol businessmen, traders and entrepreneurs. One of its highlights is the Halyao Awards of which business tycoon Lucio Tan was among its past awardees.

Tan who is considered the "Bicolano taipan" grew up in Naga City. Other Halyao awardees along with Aranda were Robert Obiedo of Camarines Sur, Socorro Buban of Albay, Luz Ricasio of Camarines Norte, and Rafael Chan Lim of Masbate. Halyao is a pre-Hispanic Bicol word which means "merchant".

The awards give recognition to the exemplary achievements of Bicolano businessmen whose "bold strokes and strong drive to turn Bicol into an engine of growth have spurred the generation of countless jobs, new industries, more wealth and opportunities that together bring new hope and optimism for the betterment of the land they love the most: the Bicol Region."

From a street merchant who peddles his wares on a cart, Obiedo rose to glory and now owner of a posh hotel in Naga City and a chain of department stores across Bikol. He is a respected community leader.

Buban is founder and owner of the oldest surviving bus company in the region that offers the lowest fare rates for Bicol-Manila and vice-versa route to passengers while Ricasio started as a fish vendor and now a businesswoman who owns and manages a little chain of pawnshops and hotels. She is also a copra trader.

Lim is a licensed accountant who gave up an accounting job in Manila to manage a family-owned merchandising business in his hometown of Cataingan, Masbate and pioneered an agri-veterinary store, a first-class shopping mart and retail business.

Aranda was cited for his pioneering effort in the coffee business which saw the rise 'Uncle Frank Roasted Coffee,' the brand name for his organically-grown "kapeng barako" (brewed coffee) that he himself grows in a five-hectare farm on the outskirts of the city.

The product that has been certified by the International Coffee Organization Certifying Agency and is now a prized item in various outlets nationwide including leading malls and grocery stores in Metro Manila.

Aranda is also responsible for the organization of the coffee growers association here with over 100 members to whom he share the technologies he learned in producing coffee known for its superb aroma and taste.

From his hometown in Batangas, Aranda settled in this provincial capital in 1984 and from scratch, he started a home-based business bottling vinegar and soy sauce which he himself sold at the downtown sidewalks. (PNA)