Sikat Pinoy arts and crafts trade fair opens in SM Megamall

MANILA — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) formally opened the 2018 Sikat Pinoy National Arts and Crafts Fair on Thursday showcasing the country’s indigenous crafts.

The arts and crafts edition of Sikat Pinoy trade fair this year will run from June 14 to 17 at the Megatrade Halls 1-3 of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

The four-day trade fair hosts 150 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from different regions in the country showcasing arts and crafts products with indigenous designs. Hand-made products such as ornaments, jewelry, fabric, accessories, among others are also available at the Sikat Pinoy trade fair.

Aside from booths selling arts and crafts, the trade fair established a special setting featuring ready-to-wear clothes that utilized indigenous textiles.

A booth promoting baybayin — an ancient writing script of Tagalog — is also featured in Sikat Pinoy. Buyers can have personalized items with a baybayin expert writing one’s name in shirts, bags, fans, and other accessories, among others.

Local food and organic products are also featured in the trade fair.

In 2017, the Sikat Pinoy National Arts and Crafts Fair had 266 exhibitors generating PHP26.59 million in sales and attended by 28,500 visitors.

Sikat Pinoy National Trade Fair is an annual event of DTI’s Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion (BDTP). The national trade fair aims to promote world-class Philippine products in the local market, the DTI said.

BDTP Assistant Director Marievic Bonoan told the Philippine News Agency that the four-day trade fair aims to generate revenue of around PHP26 million to PHP28 million.

Bonoan said that in the past three years of Sikat Pinoy National Arts and Crafts Fair, there is now an increased awareness among domestic buyers on local products, particularly those with indigenous designs.

She mentioned that there is also a study that there is a growing demand from millennials for products that have social impact and promote culture.

Meanwhile, Bonoan shared that the Congress has doubled the budget for Sikat Pinoy National Arts and Crafts Fair this year to bring the trade fair outside Metro Manila.

She added that through Senator Loren Legarda — a staunch supporter of indigenous peoples, Congress allotted around PHP20 million for Sikat Pinoy National Arts and Crafts Fair for this year, prompting the BDTP to launch the same trade fair outside Metro Manila in October.

This will be the first time that the Sikat Pinoy National Arts and Crafts Fair will be held twice in a year, said Bonoan.