Local stove innovation gets Tabuk LGU support

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The Tabuk City Government has thrown its full support behind the termite mound stove project of researchers from the Kalinga Apayao State College (KASC).

Mayor Ferdinand Tubban told the researchers when he was recognized by the local government unit (LGU) with plaques of merit and recognition on July 30 that he will meet with them to discuss how the LGU could assist in the production of the stoves.

He said the LGU has been looking for partners in developing the city and that it is but proper that the researchers who have brought honor not only to the city but the province with their stove product should be one of the beneficiaries of its livelihood program.

The citation said the research of the group “resulted in the Development and Production of a Double Burner Stove which garnered the First Place in the Regional Inventions Contest-CAR and Finalist in the 2012 National Inventions Contest that gave honor to Tabuk City and Kalinga as a whole.”

In the response of the honorees, Raquel Dulliyao, one of the honorees, said their group needs help in the mass production of the stove as their current capacity could not cope with the growing demand.

The other researchers are Dean Edna Yumol, Nofredo Dulay and Romualdo Wacas. All the honorees are members of the KASC faculty.

Dulliyao reported that through their exposure during the 2012 National Invention Contest and Exhibition (Nice) mounted by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on July 10-14 at the SMX Convention Center in the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, they were able to get get orders from many parts of the country including Davao City.

The present capacity of the production facilities of the group that was set up with the financial assistance of Congressman Manuel Agyao is six units a day, which cannot even meet the local and regional demand for the innovative stove.

Dulliyao calls the stove a breakthrough because it makes economic use of the dreaded termite mounts “that shields the unstoppable termite” and the rice hull “that forms a great part of the voluminous agricultural wastes scattered in the locality.”

The stove is hailed for its sootlessness, smokelessness, sanitary cooking area, cooking convenience and economical use of firewood.

Dulliyao said it is economical with fuel because two to three pieces of firewood could already cook and that it can make use of any form of organic fuel such as twigs, leaves, paper and even corn cobs.

Dulliyao said that during the Nice, they got the commitment of the Technology Application and Promotion Institute (Tapi), a division of the DOST that organized the contest and exhibition, to assist in the improvement and commercialization of the stove.

Dulliyao said she is now preparing a proposal for assistance to the Tapi.

Dulliyao also informed that with the patent for the stove in the bag with the expiration of the contestability period, they are now eligible to Inventors’ Society of the Philippines, the country’s honor society for inventors.