CULTURAL TRADE FAIR. The Department of Trade and Industry – Cordillera will feature the region’s culture through products created by local micro, small and medium enterprises during the 33rd Impakabsat trade fair at the Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City from July 2 to 6, 2025. The five-day fair is DTI-Cordillera’s biggest trade exhibit to promote the region’s products in Metro Manila. (Photo courtesy of DTI-Cordillera)
BANGUED, Abra – Cordillera products will take center stage during the 33rd Impakabsat trade fair at Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City from July 2 to 6.
Raymond Panjon, Department of Trade and Industry – Cordillera director, in a media interview on Tuesday, said the public would be treated to an event that sells products connected to the lives of the region’s people.
“We have heirloom rice from Kalinga, Ifugao, and Mountain Province, which were grown using indigenous farming culture and milling,” he said.
“We have old trees grown by elders, which were rejuvenated with the help of technologies provided by the different government agencies to get good and quality produce mixed with (the) old culture of the people.”
During the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition held in May, a coffee produced in Benguet fetched a record bid of PHP9,900 per kg. after being graded 84.32 by experts.
Panjon said hand- and loom-woven fabric produced in various provinces in the region, with designs and colors that depict the people’s daily lives, would also be showcased during the trade event.
The word IMPAKABsat carries the first letters of the region’s provinces – Ifugao, Mountain Province, Abra, Kalinga, Apayao, Baguio, and Benguet. The word means brotherhood.
It is the biggest trade exhibit of the DTI-Cordillera featuring the products of the micro, small and medium enterprises to help in marketing, linkage, and sales.
Exhibitions will enable the public to try hand and loom weaving, traditional tattooing, as well as the Cordillera dances and musical instruments, such as the gongs. (PNA)
