Bansalan's Lao Integrated Farms a role model on countryside development!

The coconut sugar firm in Bansalan, Davao del Sur is  a role model of the Department of Science and Technology’s flagship program on countryside development.


DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo commended the Lao Integrated Farms, Inc. based in Barangay Eman, Bansalan for bringing improvements into the rural area of the province, using appropriate technology innovations.

Farm owner and chief executive officer Benjamin Lao started ten years ago from a barren land in Brgy. Eman. The  inventor and producer of the Donnabelle coconut sugar and syrup products made from coconut sap.

Lao recalled that he started developing the one-hectare coconut farm and introduced organic farming. Today, Donnabelle coco sugar and syrup products are exported to Australia, Germany and Japan.

The business has also expanded to other coco sugar-based products such as ginger tea, moringa, lemon grass and seasonings.
Lao said he had only seven workers prior to the DOST assistance. The company now has a workforce of 86 toddy suppliers and 35 regular employees.

He plans employing 50 additional workers when he expands the business to Japan by the last quarter of 2012.

Lao is a national awardee as Outstanding Farmer and Magsasakang Syentista. The provincial government also recognized Lao for his exceptional contribution not only in improving the agriculture sector, but also in uplifting agri-entrepreneurship through his invention and production of the coconut sugar/syrup.

2009 Outstanding Bansaleños revealed!

The 57th founding anniversary of Bansalan, Davao del Sur, will be on September 18, 2009.

On this occasion Mayor Edwin G. Reyes will bestow the coveted Outstanding Bansaleño Award to five Bansaleños for their exemplary contribution and for excelling in their chosen professions.

The five awardees are:

Dr. Teofredo T. Esguerra:
A medical doctor who is part of the Filipino team who scaled the world's highest peak, Nepal's Mount Everest, in 2006 as the team's lone physician. He stayed for the most part at the base camp, which was 18,000 feet above sea level.

Atty. Israelito P. Torreon:
President of the Davao del Sur chapter of Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). As such, he was cited "for being elected the youngest president ever." A law professor at the Ateneo de Davao University, he founded the Ateneo Forensic, the university's law debating club. Last June, the team became champion in the first International Humanitarian Law Debate held at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Benjamin R. Lao:
Is recognized "for being chosen as the Gawad Saka 2008 national awardee for coconut farming by the Department of Agriculture." He has proven that a barren land can be turned into productive farm. His farm is located in Eman, Davao del Sur. Aside from coconut, the Lao Integrated Farm is also teeming with various fruits like lanzones (more than a thousand trees), durian (700 trees), mangosteen, and rambutan. He is an advocate in organic farming.

Leila Noel-Rispens:
She is cited "for leading the former residents of Bansalan now living abroad into a virtual community through the Association of Bansaleos Worldwide (ABW)."
Rispens-Noel is also one of the most sought speakers on such topics as migration, development, remittances, and capacity building of diaspora organizations. She is also a good source of information on links between remittances and development. She married a Dutch national, Willem Rispens, she used to live in the Netherlands but recently moved to Hong Kong.

Evelyn B. Laguidao:
She was known as Evelyn Bautista. She grew up and studied in Bansalan. Later on, she migrated to the United States, where she now works at the World Bank headquarters.