BUSINESSWOMAN Crystal Claire Cantillas-Villasin lost millions when super typhoon Yolanda wreaked havoc in Bantayan Island in November 2013. Three years after, she has recovered from the loss and finds time to help the business community in the island.
The 29-year-old entrepreneur owns a hardware and a poultry farm in Bantayan. While the hardware business incurred minimal damage, the poultry farm was destroyed, with losses estimated at between P3 million and P5 million.
The recovery was a tedious one.
Villasin recalled how she sacrificed her income from her hardware business to reconstruct the poultry and resorted to obtaining a bank loan.
At present, the loan hasn’t been completely paid off yet, but the entrepreneur said she might complete it over the short-term as she is on her way toward full recovery.
Villasin is now vice president for internal affairs of the Bantayan Island Chapter of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI-BIC). She was also one of the seven founding members of the chapter that has 38 members to date.
As chamber officer, she coordinates with the CCCI officials and, through the organization, serves as the voice of the business community in the island.
“We organize seminars and trainings, and hold meetings with the business owners here in Bantayan through the chamber,” Villasin told Sun.Star Cebu.
CCCI Bantayan Chapter was first organized in 2013, prior to the super typhoon, said Lito Maderazo, who was president of CCCI at that time. Maderazo also hails from Bantayan, where he spent his younger years.
The Bantayan chapter, Maderazo’s brainchild, intends to be the voice of the business community in Bantayan, Sta. Fe, and Madridejos.
After the typhoon, Villasin said that CCCI helped the island’s business community recover faster, by introducing them to credit facilities or loans provided by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and bringing skills training to the people of the island, especially in the areas of hospitality, food and beverage, and construction.
Villasin herself has been granted a loan of about P2 million from DTI to rehabilitate her poultry farm business.
The mother chamber was also responsible for facilitating the help of the private sector and foundations for the people of Bantayan Island. One of them was the AFOS Foundation, which has funded four proposals for candle-making, fisheries, and livestock.
“It is important that we now have a working business group in the island. The businesses, even small, have organized themselves so they could have a voice,” Maderazo said.
Like Villasin, crab exporter Maria Jimenez has also been helping out the local business community in Bantayan. As a trustee of the Bantayan Chapter for fisheries, she said having a business chamber in the island has given more power to the entrepreneurs, in terms of training, access to funds, and helping facilitate the issuance of business permits. She said the chamber has helped her fellow entrepreneurs have their businesses legally registered.
“We (business owners) have become united now, unlike before,” Jimenez said, referring to the CCCI Bantayan Island Chapter.
While most were devastated by the typhoon, the crab meat exporter said she received a large number of orders within days after Yolanda, since it was only her facility in the island that was not largely damaged and was capable of operations immediately after the typhoon.
“Na swertehan lang gyud ko atong panahona nga wala kaayo mi nagub-an (We were very lucky that the damage to our facility was minimal),” Jimenez said.
This year, CCCI held the first Bantayan Business Summit in the town of Sta. Fe last July 30, where stakeholders identified issues on land titling, power supply, water problems, infrastructure, and solid waste management.
Maderazo said that the summit was intended to pave the way for the creation of an economic roadmap of the island.
More than just witnessing the synergy among business owners, entrepreneurs have also brought with them some lessons after Yolanda.
This time, Villasin and Jimenez said that they have come to appreciate the importance of having typhoon-resilient establishments.
“Naanad na man gud mi sa una nga bagyohon gyud mi, so wala ra mi ato. Pero pag Yolanda, di diay ta dapat magkompansya (Before Yolanda, we had gotten used to being visited by typhoons, so we weren’t very worried.
After Yolanda, we learned the importance of not being complacent),” said Villasin.
Instead of using light materials for their poultry farm, Villasin said she chose concrete when she began rebuilding, so it would have a better chance of surviving typhoons.