Joyce Leal: The Audacious Nymph

 

Together with Manang Sylvia, DOST-PSTO, we headed for a 6-km trip along the cemented highway going south of Cabarroguis. Then we turned right and headed to a rocky unpaved road hemmed in thick bushes and towering trees. Who would imagine that at the end of the road is a barangay nestling at the foot of Quirino’s famous tourist spot, Susong Dalaga. This is Barangay Banuar, where literally almost all households are engaged in flower making. Apart from being part of Cabarroguis RIC, some florists also work for Mrs. Aguas and Ms. Joyce Leal. Bannuar, which is the Iloko term for hero, proves to be a fitting name for their barangay where the people have triumphed to rise above complacency and managed to make themselves productive through this art. Before, women would flock together for tong-its (a card game) after lunch. Ms. Leal laughingly confessed that she was once a tong-its addict herself.

 

Joyce Leal or Manang Joyce is the owner and proprietor of J’s Craft. She is a jolly, agile, and warm woman with a voice that reminds me of showbiz comedienne Tia Pusit. At first glance she would not be mistaken for a businesswoman. With two rooms in her newly constructed house, a long way from her small nipa hut before, who would imagine that one is exclusively for the storage of her “babies” ¾ the flowers. Before, she was just an easy-go-lucky person until she started with her business that she literally and figuratively drifted away from her dormant and lazy afternoons. As she geared up, she could now hardly even relax, she complained.

 

This attitude was contagious that her neighbors were also hooked to it and literally swarmed the barangays like flood. She had 20 laborers back in the 1990s; however, most of them have already ventured on their own. To date, she has only 10 regular laborers, but they are already seasoned and highly skilled, she said. Working only half day so they still have time to do their household chores, one can assemble 200 flowers. On weekends, seven more school children also assemble flowers for her. Other children gather twigs of a shrub to use as stems for the petals. She said that she is happy since the children are also industrious and their income would be their allowance for the week ahead. It also kept them busy so that they would become productive instead of fooling around. Putting the petals would cost P0.75 each for the large rose buds. Sepals would be an additional P0.25 a piece. As if tailored to suit the stress-free lifestyle in the province, Manang Joyce said that the laborers can also bring home the materials and assemble at their own pace if there is no deadline to beat. In front of their primetime telenovelas, women, children, and men alike assemble flowers. What a nice family bonding! What a floral life, indeed!

 

Manang Joyce was an attentive participant in the first seminar. It was in her place that the group of trainees headed for the in-plant application of the technology under the tutelage of Ms. Sipin. After the encounter she was daring enough to give it a try. She got her the chemicals and started applying what she had just learned. From her experience, however, she was regretful that almost 50 percent of her products were damaged when employing PTRI’s pretreatment process. She has not completely adopted the technique of PTRI. Although she still relied on the old technique, she already uses the chemicals taught to her. However, if there were rush orders she would normally use PTRI’s technique, which is appreciably faster. In front of her house you would mistake it as plant boxes but they are not! They are actually cemented steeping tanks previously acquired through DOST grants. After steeping she washes the leaves and neutralizes them, which as she recounted is the reason why she obtains very white leaves. She also uses the drier, likewise a grant from DOST, to fast-track the process, especially during the rainy season.

 

Gaddang Pilipinas, one of her clients where she sells at least 3,000 pieces of flowers of varying sizes and colors per month, generating at least P17, 000, also noticed the improvement of the quality of her flowers in terms of colorfastness. “Gumaganda ‘ata ang mga bulaklak mo a, sabi nila,” Manang Joyce gratefully quoted. Among her other clients are Orient Garden and Nerall Trading. In July 2004, she attended the DOST’s National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) Celebration in Legazpi City, Albay, and shared with the booth of the DOST-Northern Luzon Cluster. She showcased products dyed with basic dyes and it was the time that she launched in the trade fair flowers dyed using the technology on acid dyes transferred by PTRI. She generated total sales of P40,000. In the last day with some more flowers to sell, she left it to the DOST organizers and treated herself and her husband to a well-deserved city tour. “Aba e sa huling araw, namasyal na kami,” she cheerily quipped.

 

The basic dyes would give her vibrant and bold colors which are a sure hit among students and visitors in trade fairs. Acid-dyed flowers giving subdued and subtle shades differ from the former ¾ delights which she termed as sossy and mayayaman. She is certain that natural dyes, apart from capitalizing on the green technology, are reminiscent of the subdued colors that are very natural and would surely have their own share of the market locally and abroad.