Byline: MANDY NAVASERO

NOT so long ago, a visiting A-list Hollywood actor had to go all the way to Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas and other nearby provinces just to buy locally made furniture for his beach house in Bermuda. He was searching for chairs, tables and wall decorations made up of bamboo and unfamiliar sounding raw materials like "a-vah-kah" and "ray-than." He found the countryside trips too taxing and a security threat.

When he came back a year later wanting more of the stuff for his rest house in ...

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