Daila Herbal: Award Winning Products
"Unknown to many, the detergent we use at home pose a great danger to our health. These detergents contain chemicals which have high penetration power that is harmful to our skin and body," Ma. Aleli Pensacola owner of Daila Herbal explains.
Compared to leading brands in laundry detergents, the "miracle soap" is a natural herbal product manufactured in the Philippines that doesn't contain a single gram of alkyl benzene, an emulsifier that seeps through the skin and causes liver and blood disease through continued use. Nor is there a trace of sodium silicitate that manufacturers use to harden soaps and causes clothing to wear.
"Aside from that, it (miracle soap) did not make use of fluorescent materials, the ingredients that absorb ultra-violet rays in clothing, to mislead consumers that using this and that laundry soap resulted in whiter whites," she narrates.
According to Ma. Aleli Pensacola, these fluorescent materials have been known to cause a variety of skin diseases. "And because of the natural herbal soaps' biodegradable contents, it has zero impact on the environs - it does not have phosphate and zeolite content that causes nitrification of water and encourages the growth of algae and microorganisms resulting in clogged drainage and dying of rivers and lakes."
With patience and perseverance Ma. Aleli Pensacola found herself joining various fairs and exhibits to present her natural herbal products manufactured in the Philippines not only to the local but to the international market as well.
In 1994, the formula won the Silver Gild Medal in Geneva, Switzerland during the Salon International des Invention.
In 1987, it won the Gold Medal with Mention of the Salon Mondial de Invention at de I’Innovation au Moroc in Casablanca, Morocco, and the GrandPrix and Gold Medal award for Best Foreign Invention during the East-West Euro Intellect Exhibition of Invention, Research and Innovation at Sofia, Bulgaria.
“The award from Bulgaria was truly unexpected. I just asked my friend Joseph Deubaldo to find a market for the soap there. Before you can enter the fair, you will need $1,200. Using his own money, we made it to the exhibit and eventually bagged the grand award," Ma. Aleli Pensacola calls.
Joseph Deubaldo is the president of the Philippine Chamber for Herbal and National Health Industries.
But more than the awards it has reaped, the Herbal Soap granules gave the people a user-friendly natural herbal soap that had superior cleaning power.
"We also discovered that the laundry soap can double as a bath soap as some of our `suki’ have attested. Some men eyed use its lather as a natural shaving cream," Ma. Aleli Pensacola mentions.
This year, the herbal soap granules will make their commercial debut under the brand name “Victoria" a fitting name for what was once a small backyard project that has since blossomed into a world-class Filipino product.
“Our natural herbal product observes the rights of the consumer and more importantly it pays respect to Mother Earth, the source of all things. After all, it's the only one we've got," ends Ma. Aleli Pensacola.
Aside from "Victoria Herbal Granules” Ma. Aleli Pensacola also makes natural herbal body soaps, lotions, and shampoos, scented candles, house cleansers, herbal oil, etc. which are made of biodegradable ingredients.
*** Published in a local newspaper last June 6, 1999