On August 29, 2006, PAGASA President Steve Cua was invited by Monde Nissin for their Production Managers/Supervisors Seminar as a retailer panelist to share market sentiments toward Monde�s products. Together with 7-11's Wally Fernandez (left) and Waltermart's Josephine Gomez, the three took turns at "lambasting" Monde's products in the format of popular local Talk Shows; this one called "C-Files!"

PAGASA Delegation to the 15th National Retailers Conference at the EDSA Shangri la 17-18 August 2006 where Marketing Guru Dr. Dale Achabal and Wal-Mart's VP-Dev't. for China, Mr. Ben Cornish gave the latest on global retail trends and developments. Other speakers were this year's Entrepreneur of the Year, Mr. Lance Gokongwei, Retail Asia's Steven Goh, Starbuck Coffee's Angela Lopez Cole and Jollibee's Inez Reyes. Our President, Steven Cua, is part of this year's Organizing Committee for this event.

Another project of PAGASA on its 20th Year is the PAGASA Supervisors Seminar held at the Hotel Astoria Plaza on 20 July 2006. Supervisors of PAGASA Member-Stores from as far as Rodriguez, Rizal and Pakil, Laguna joined in to shape up supervisory skills and benchmark against the industry�s best practices in honing their acumen in the service of the Filipino people!

Last March 8, 2006, Nestle Philippines hosted a counterfeit product awareness seminar at the Department of Trade and Industry building. Since 2002, there has been an increasing number of counterfeit Nestle products such as Bear Brand, Milo, Nescafe, Coffeemate and Nido. During the seminar, Nestle speakers compared the original products with the counterfeit products and how to detect them. The seminar was participated by government employees, market masters as well as from the supermarket industry including PAGASA. Nestle Philippines has promised rewards of up to P1 Million to those who report counterfeiters. This may be reported to their 24-hour hotline at 8108266

A new trend in retailing worldwide has to do with Sustainable Development. Sustainable what? Sustainable Development pertains to economic development with an eye for the sustainability of our environment. It keeps an eye on the ecological balance of one’s neighborhood resulting to the total good of one’s city and the standard of life in that community. It is also known as Environmental Sustainability.

PAGASA will have its 2006 second quarter general meeting on March 24, 2006. Please get in touch with the secretariat as to the time and venue.

The Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association (PAGASA) led by its President Steve Cua attended the United Nations Environment Program workshop seminar held last March 1 and 2, 2006 at the Astoria Plaza, Escriva Drive, Pasig. The training workshop dubbed "Training Program on Promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Retail Industry" sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme is a continuing workshop which aims to increase the awareness of the people if the impact of consumption and production practices to the environment. The agency acknowledges the retail sector as a powerful medium to encourage manufacturers to use "green production" methods as well as teach consumers on protecting the environment.