UP ISSI picks 2017 DOST Best SETUP Adoptor winner

From left to right: UP ISSI Officer-in-Charge Rolando Ramon C. Diaz, DOST Sec. Fortunato T. dela Peña, family members of 2017 Best SETUP Adoptor Award winner Demetrio C. Perez (middle), DOST Region 11 Director Anthony C. Sales and DOST Usec. Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano.

For the fifth time this year, UP ISSI chose the winner of the Best SETUP Adoptor award, an annual recognition given by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to the best technology adopter among small and medium enterprise beneficiaries of the agency’s Small Enterprise Upgrading Program or SETUP.

In a ceremony that coincided with the celebration of the National Science and Technology Week at the World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City, former UP ISSI Director and now DOST Sec. Fortunato T. dela Peña awarded the recognition last Friday, 14 July 2017, to Demetrio C. Perez, owner of metal fabricator DP Fabrication and Machineries based in Digos, Davao del Sur.  Secretary dela Peña was also joined by Usec. Brenda L. Nazareth-Manzano, Region 11 Director Anthony C. Sales and UP ISSI Officer-in-Charge Rolando Ramon C. Diaz.

For two months in a row, the UP ISSI board of judges chaired by the Institute’s OIC traveled across the country interviewing the finalists and visiting their plant sites.  Other members of the board included the different heads of ISSI, namely Engr. Ma. Luisa S. Lee, Glennis S. Uyanguren, Engr. Leoncio T. Cubillias, Jr. and Ian Jester M. de Vera.  This was also the fourth time the selection of the finalists was facilitated by DOST Region 8 headed by its director, Engr. Edgardo M. Esperancilla, and with the coordination of Supervising Science Research Specialist Mae Anne D. Reyes and her staff.

The success story of this year’s winner, DP Fabrication and Machineries, serves as an inspiration not only for other SETUP beneficiaries but also for other aspiring entrepreneurs.  The owner, an elementary graduate who started with peddling scrap goods in a cart, has since grown his business into a multi-million enterprise that specializes in the design and fabrication of mobile and compact agricultural implements.  The firm is planning to expand operations with the construction of a new production site.

The writer is a member of the board of judges for this year’s DOST Best SETUP Adoptor Award.

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