Cordillera art, crafts hub features “KAPEtirya”

By Jessa Mardy P. Samidan

BAGUIO CITY - The Cordillera Crafts and Productivity Center located at the DPS Compound, Upper Session Road here now offers specialty coffee alongside art and handicrafts being sold by local entrepreneurs.

This was announced by regional director Myrna Pablo of the Dept. of Trade and industry Cordillera in her letter to Mayor Mauricio Domogan informing the local chief executive that a private restaurant owner has been chosen to jumpstart the operation of the coffee shop branded as “KAPEtirya.”

Pablo said the launching of the coffee shop as a component of the crafts and productivity hub was held Wednesday morning.

“KAPEtirya is a component of our Cordillera Crafts and Productivity Center where Philippine coffees will be showcased,” Pablo stated in her letter.

Ervine Pangwi of Il Padrino bistro will be the interim operator of KAPEtirya with an agreed monthly rental fee of Php10,000. A thrust account is set to be opened where the revenue of the facility will accrue.

Pablo said the interim operation will be until the selection of a permanent operator by way of bidding, which is pending the tripartite approval of the Terms of Reference as guide per Resolution No. 168 series of 2017.

DTI-CAR opened the facility last year in partnership with the City Government of Baguio to serve as the Cordillera One Town One Product (OTOP) Philippines center and the Baguio City’s Creative City Arts and Crafts hub.

The building was built in 1997 through the initiative of former senator Leticia Shahani supposedly to serve as a training venue for small and medium scale entrepreneurs based on a tripartite agreement signed the DTI-CAR, City of Baguio and the Association of Barangay Councils of Baguio.