Coco Deli

As they say, the grass is always greener under a coconut tree. But for the Sinapilo family, it took them years of hard work and perseverance before they managed to achieve whatever they have now.

Delio Sinapilo, who hails from Candelaria, Quezon is the 7th child from a large family of 12. Being born in Quezon, where majority of its residents depend on coconut farming, Delio at an early age was exposed to this kind of lifestyle which he adapted and have grown to love. Most of his high school years were spent doing coconut farming on the side which became his source of income to fund his schooling.

In the year 1984, he met Rosanna and instantly fell in love with the young lady and eventually married her. Living in Quezon, pursuing what they both love doing (coconut faming) and starting a young family was an ideal set-up until reality kicked in that married life is never an easy thing and both realized that they had to drop out of school to support the family’s needs. That led for Delio to leave his family and work in Manila to sustain the family’s finances.

Cut to 20 years after, Delio’s family returned to Quezon and pursue what they both love to do back then – coconut farming. They started with 70 coconut trees and focused their efforts on producing coconut wine (lambanog). They took their business slowly but surely.

farmersAfter 9 years of running the business, they have a total of one thousand leased coconut trees producing coconut sap. They have also started training other young couples and taught them how to do coconut farming. They provided housing and even took care of some of the family’s needs. To both Delio and Rosanna, it reminded them of their humble start which led them to invest more on these young families and help them in every way they can.

Right now, they have about 10 farmers whose family stays within the farm. They have also expanded the business and started producing coconut sugar, coconut honey and coconut vinegar. They also opened a mini eatery serving delicious coconut ice cream and pansit buko.

Many things are in the pipeline as they want to also venture into producing other products out of coconut, opening up a training and research centre to further develop coconut processing in the Philippines and eventually globalize their coconut products. For both Delio and Rosanna, everything was done by sheer perseverance backed up by having faith in each other’s strengths and capabilities and lastly, trust in God.