 |
| Balisong on display in front of Diosdado Ona's store |
Though Barangay Balisong in Taal town, also known as the balisong capital of the Philippines, is now suffering from the dwindling supply of knife experts, Diosdado Ona, owner of the Ona Blades store, sees a chance of reviving the dying industry.
"I think if the government would support the balisong industry, and promote it by putting up the fan knife landmarks in all the entrances to the province such as Laguna, Cavite, and Quezon, people will know and appreciate the industry," Ona said.
In front of Ona's store along the highway of Barangay Balisong is a six-foot balisong.
He said the fan knife industry is fast losing its experts as they are growing old and their children who are supposed to inherit the art and craft of making the weapon would rather prefer the cellular phone.
"The balisong is our identity," Ona said. "It defines us as Batanguenos. We can't just let the industry die because of politics and cell phones."
Through his business which is known all over the world, Ona is doing his best to help revive the industry by producing collectors' type balisong and constantly improving on the the quality of the knife which has become his passion.
"Balisong is not only my passion, it is also a fascination," he said. "In 1970, this fan knife saved my life from an attacker who retreated after he saw how fast I was with my balisong, and realized that his small weapon was no match for my bigger fan knife."
Ona started his balisong business only in 1999 after his 19-year stint as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan. Through all those years, the passion for the blade never slipped his mind.
 |
| Diosdado Ona and his 7-foot balisong |
The perfect 20/20 vision of the expert balisong maker ensures that the holes and the pins that connect the housing and blades of the balisong would be balanced and perfectly aligned.
Making the fan knife is no easy task. First, the liner (or magtatalag) makes the housing of the balisong from brass, aluminium, and stainless steel. Its handles are made of horse bone, carabao horn, deer antler, hardwood such as narra and kamagong, and lately, some have experimented on plastics.
The magbabalakbak then makes and sharpens the blade, which usually comes from junk steel from the junkshops. The junk steel are usually from the housing of bearings or leaf spring of vehicles, high grade metals that are forged in fire, continuously pounded, and shaped into the blade.
The magbabasyada combines the housing and the blade to finish the product.
Sometimes, expert balisong makers can do all of those, from the lining to the completion of the knife. A balisong maker gets 30% profit for every fan knife he makes.
Forty percent of Ona's clients are foreigners while the rest are local clients who collect or sell the balisong all over the country.
In 2007, about 50 members of the World of Martial Arts Federation went to Taal to buy Ona's famous balisong. His balisongs, sold at P200 to P900 apiece, have reached all of Europe, United States, Australia, and Asia.
His balisong business also maintains regular clients in Manila and internet sales. Regular clients from Hong Kong also bring in the big sales.
For Ona, the secret to staying in the business is to continuously upgrade the quality of the balisong, and select the best balisong maker. He employs four of the best balisong makers in Taal.
There are balisong art pieces in his store, including the100-year old balisong, which his grandfather used to own. Collectors always pick those with unique designs, the most popular of which is the Rambo-type blade used in Sylvester Stallone's hit movie series.
His miniature fan knives include the fancy key chain Kampilan used by the Philippine National Police Academy, and the sugar cane cutter called Pangtadtad.
Ona also has a sexy balisong called the Busisi, which is likened to a circumcised penis where the tip of the blade juts out of its housing.
He said: "I'm happy because through this business, I was able to know many famous people. Showbiz personalities, politicians, and businessmen are my friends now. My dream is to have a stock supply of balisong for the next 100 years, that is, if I win the lottery."
(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for "true.")
-o0o-
Necessity and travels turn mom’s business into success
By Mei Magsino
BATANGAS CITY – Batangueños who love to travel comfortably with less expense go to only one travel agency, the one that Ludeth Cruz owns. Only 36, Ludeth’s travel agency, purified drinking water business, fast-food franchise, and other business ventures have already made their mark in the male-dominated Batangas business scene.“For me, time is always equated with money. That’s why I buy in bulk, sell less in retail and get the bigger client share. With my spare time away from my business, I dedicate my energy to improving my farm that is planted with high-value crops,” Cruz says.” Even in my relaxation time, I make sure I’ll get a big profit.”
This, from a mother of three kids, with the eldest daughter in college, who looks like her sister.
“I married young, and in my need to prove my self-worth, started a business out of necessity. From there, came another business that boomed, and another, and another and more,” Cruz says.” I think I have proven what I can do. I have no regrets with the fact that I was a young mother because I was able to balance it with running my business.”
Necessity
Cruz’s father died when she was young, and as the eldest in a brood of four sisters, she had no choice but be responsible for her sisters while her mother, a former public school teacher, worked in Italy to support them.
After she graduated from nursing school in 1994, she wasn’t able to take the board exam as she had to get married right away after her pregnancy test proved positive.
“It was down time for me because I was so young, and I never had the chance to take the nursing board exam. My mother and three sisters who used to have high expectations for me were frustrated,” Cruz says.” Maybe for other women that was already the end of the road. But not for me, because I just refused to give up.”
After giving birth to her first born, she got bored staying in their house, and volunteered to audit her husband, Nathaniel’s company, a meter-reading, connection, disconnection, and reconnection service provider of a water company and power distribution company in Makati City, Tondo, and Alabang.
Nathaniel couldn’t believe that she, a nursing graduate, was able to find the missing P50,000 to P100,000 in the company’s accounts that were hidden under the company’s expenses every month that was pocketed by his secretary. For the first time in two and a half years, that corruption stopped and the money went back to the company.
From that time on, the couple’s business partnership started. Nathaniel trusted her in the business as his secretary, accountant, and manager. From only six employees that time, the company now boasts of 300 employees and big-time contracts with multinational companies.
“It was in 1998 when we decided to put up the Leah Lou Pharmacy in Batangas City. That was something we had to do to save money from the costly medicines that we needed every day. My children and I were always sick and I was asthmatic,” Cruz says.
With her eldest daughter Leah, who was only 3 years old, and Lou who was only 1 year old at that time, she went to different pharmaceutical companies in Manila to buy medicines in bulk, and other items that could be sold in the pharmacy.
Bulk
For Cruz, buying in bulk from Manila and selling in retail price in Batangas proved to be a very good business, plus the fact that for the first time, she had a business of her own that was related to medicine.
Five years later and with her three kids all suffering from stomach discomforts due to sensitivity to tap water, Cruz was disgruntled when a well-known mineral water company whose only branch in Batangas was in far Sto. Tomas mistreated her. She decided to put up her own water refilling company.
In 2001, the couple started the Always Purified Drinking Water also in Batangas City after she studied the techniques on making safe drinking water that could rival the water company that gave her a shabby treatment. The business grew as it was also the time when the purified water fad started in the province. Again, they were at the right business at the right timing.
A year later, the dream house that she designed was finished, located in one of this city’s posh subdivisions.
In the family
With their business on strong and stable grounds, the Cruz family decided to travel and visit their relatives in Europe. Their travels also included Asia and Australia.
In Parma, Italy, where Cruz’s mother works, she was impressed by the town’s quality leather goods, crystals, and pasta. The idea of putting up her own restaurant was already starting.
Visiting Barcelona in Spain, Cruz stayed with her aunt who owns a restaurant, travel agency, and apartment buildings.
“That was also the time when I discovered that the women in my side of the family were also entrepreneurs, and I could have gotten my keen business sense from them,” Cruz says.
Timing
“All by myself and sometimes with my secretary, we walked the streets of Makati City, where there were travel agencies, just to find out and study how they run the travel business,” Cruz says.
In her Internet research, she found another perfect timing.
“The travel cooperative of the Philippines was just starting and it was recruiting members. It was there where I got my contacts and wholesalers from all countries,” Cruz says.
Plane ticket wholesalers from European countries agreed to give her lower prices and she was able to sell tickets worth $1,200 to $1,300 in other travel agencies for only $830 at Cozy Travel and Tours, her travel agency.
With the peak season in the offing, ticket sales were on a sudden rise, and with the lower costs compared to other agencies, the rising sales leaped, and until now, are on a steady rise. Cruz didn’t have to advertise. It was her clients’ word of mouth that brought in the majority of her clients.
“I do a lot of travelling, too, and I want to travel in comfort. Part of that comfort also comes from knowing that the travel agency didn’t charge you too much on your plane ticket,” Cruz says.
Cozy Travel and Tours now handles regular clients like businessmen, foreigners, doctors, and corporate accounts.
The travel agency was only renting its office located in Gulod Labac, this city, near the Jesus of Nazareth Hospital.
“This July, we will be transferring to our own building located right in front of SM City, Batangas. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be raising our price, it will remain the same because now we own the building and we’re expecting an influx of clients due to our proximity to the mall,” Cruz says.
Food
With her family’s fast-paced life, she was shocked when she discovered how much they were spending on cafe and restaurant food.
“My family has been spending P30,000 a month on an American cafe inside the mall. We spend more than P100,000 on restaurant food. That’s too much. We need to have our own cafe and restaurant. That’s when my long-time dream of having a cafe and Italian restaurant finally came to reality. On July 23, we will be opening Bel Piato Cafe and Bistro on the ground floor of the same building where Cozy will soon transfer,” Cruz says.
According to Cruz, the cafe-bistro, also born out of necessity, will serve a fusion of European, American, and Asian cuisine, all with a Pinoy twist developed by the same chef who served Senator Manny Villar.
With few fine dining restaurants in Batangas compared to the fast rising middle-class that needs the assurance of quality food and ambiance, the cafe-bistro is expected to boom, just like all of Cruz’s business ventures.
People
For Cruz, aside from buying in bulk and selling in retail for less, getting the right people to do the job is also another key to the success of all her business ventures.
“We also take care of our people. We believe that if we treat them right and take care of them, they will eventually treat the company as their own and will grow with us. That’s precisely what happened to our business,” Cruz says.
With the right people on the job, Cruz was never afraid to delegate important jobs to people she has proven to be trustworthy.
Cruz believes that right timing in all of her business proved to be a big help too, as she started all of them when the fad was on the rise, and the demand kept coming.
“Aside from the timing, and the kind of business in demand, we also use our products and services constantly to know the improvements that we are going to implement. We always have to find ways to innovate because this business will eventually be run by our children. With that, we also find it a necessity to educate them and as early as now, expose them to the business and we don’t waste time,” Cruz says.
For Cruz and her family, good business starts with necessity, and coupled with perfect timing, all of her businesses have always proven to turn into a successful venture.
