ILOILO CITY – Despite the ongoing threat posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a trade fair featuring products of Western Visayas region was still able to rake in more than P10.6 million in sales revenue.

In a report released by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-6), the 17th Panubli-on Trade Fair held at the SM City Iloilo exceeded its target sales of P9 million.
DTI-6 Regional Director Rebecca Rascon said this year’s trade fair was designed to ease the losses of 102 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces, as well as the cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.
“This gave hope that business is slowly coming back,” Rascon said.
“This was made possible by the collective effort of everybody to ensure that economic activity slowly returns to normalcy,” echoed DTI-6 Assistant Regional Director Ermelina Pollentes.
The Panubl-ion was both an actual trade fair and online trade fair that sold food, fabric, clothing, fashion accessories, and decors.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurs also underwent product trainings on development and packaging enhancement under DTI’s One Town, One Product Next Generation program.