CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 2 -- "I learned to respect and give due consideration to others especially our Muslim brethren. If given the privilege, I would apply for the Halal Certification and be certified by the Region. I appreciate now the religious background of Halal Food," said Filemon Jutba II when asked what was his takeaway from the webinar.

Jutba is one of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector who joined the DOST-10's Halal Awareness Webinar on June 23, 2020, at 9 a.m.- 12 noon via Google Meet.

The event was attended by over 50 participants mostly DOST-assisted MSMEs belonging to the food processing sector from the different provinces of Northern Mindanao.

DOST 10 invited Atty. Raison D. Arobinto, the Senior Trade Industry Development Specialist of DTI-Export Marketing Bureau (Halal Section) as the resource speaker of the webinar. He did a great job of explaining the topics in a very comprehensive way to MSMEs.

This contributed to the positive responses gathered from the participants.

The Halal Awareness Webinar aims to deepen the participants' knowledge of basic principles and fundamentals of Halal, Halal business opportunities, and Halal certification guidelines.

The webinar would help them not only to appreciate Halal more but also encourages them to pursue Halal certification for their business.

The webinar is just one of the efforts of DOST 10 to continuously support the MSMEs and contribute to the development of the Halal Industry in the region amidst the pandemic. (Angela Serrano, DOST-X)