PAGASA President Steven T. Cua was invited to give a seminar to the attendees of the 5th Philippine Food Exposition at the Megatrade Hall of the SM Megamall on 28 January 2006. The topic was on �How to Supply Food Products to Supermarkets?� Picture depicts involvement of the participants during Open Forum.

In December of 2005, the United Nations Environment Program (based in Paris) launched their Asian drive to promote sustainable development globally through retailers. The UNEP believed that retailers were strategic as mediators between suppliers (whose packaging efforts affect the environment critically) and consumers (whose actions will totally affect the environment of this world). They invited retailers from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia to spearhead this drive. The Philippine delegation to this one-day seminar in Kuala Lumpur included (from left) Alan Cajes of Development Academy of the Phils., Manuel Alberto of Shopwise, Josephine Abanto/consultant, Steven Cua of PAGASA (3RD from left), Evelyn Salire of the Phil. Retailers Assn. and Norma Hernandez of the Dept. of Trade & Industry/Bureau of Product Standards. With them are Mandar Parasnis (UNEP Consultant from India), Bas de Leeuw (Head of the Strategy Unit for Production & Consumption of the UNEP)...

We are requestiong all current members to send their e-mail address to secretariat@pagasa.org.ph for inclusion in the members mailing list. The mailing list will be used to send out notices and for discussion of any topic that may concern the member and the industry. Please don't forget to include your name, updated address and phone numbers for inclusion in our directory. Members are also encouraged to signup for an account on the website. We will be setting up a members only content for the benefit of the members. Thank you. UPDATE: Due to the number of non-PAGASA members signing up for an account, we have disabled the automatic registration. Instead, please email SECRETARIAT with your preferred login name and we'll send you your account password.

The PAGASA Board of Directors 2006 - 2007 had its 1st meeting last November 7, 2005 at the Mati Greek Restaurant in Rockwell, Makati. During the meeting, the board elected from among themselves the officers for the term 2006 - 2007. Elected on his fourth term as president is Steven Cua from Welcome Supermart, Roy Chua of Daily Supermart is elected as Vice President and PRO, Karl Marxist Tan of Super Palengke as Secretary and William Villanueva of Purity Supermarket as Treasurer. The rest of the Board of Directors includes Edgar Robles of Susana Mart, Edmund Cua of Royal Family Supermart, Llansel Sy of Liana's Supermart, Robert Tan of Watson's Supermart, Virgilio Del Mundo of RFC Supermarket,

PAGASA attended the Expanded Senior Citizens Discount on Agricultural products consultation hosted by the Department of Agriculture last November 7, 2005. The forum held at the Apacible Hall of the Department of Agriculture was led by DA Assistant Secretary Romeo S. Recide

The following article is PAGASA's position on Executive Order 51 (Breastmilk Supplements and Related Products). 1. Given today's busy lifestyle for urbanites, working mothers must given a choice on how to feed her infant when she cannot, because of work schedules or career requirements (i.e., assigned to a post out-of-town or out of the country), breastfeed her child. These modern-day heroes shuffling as mothers and professionals should be provided access to breastmilk substitutes to assure that the delicate balance of providing the needed nourishment to their child and getting their work done is achieved. One may say that these young mothers will have to make a choice to stay at home as mothers or stay childless to advance their careers. This seems to sound fine but will surely not hold water for today's young (especially urbanite) female adults who want to shuffle between work and motherhood. This sounds like work/sexual discrimination at the workplace. A...

 Philippine Retailers Conference 2005 Aug 17 - 19, 2005 EDSA Shangrila Mandaluyong City