MILAN - Everybody knows about Kapeng Barako and Batangas Bulalo. Now there is another Batangas pride making its way to the upscale market.

“Angas Beef,” short for Batangas beef, is a cheaper, tastier and healthier alternative to imported Angus beef, which is known for its quality. It's a new beef variety comparable to the taste and flavor of imported beef in the Philippines.

Filipino Dexter Villamin, CEO of DV Boer Farm and a former executive chef, left the culinary world scene in Thailand, returned to the Philippines and started out with a small goat farm. One of his ideas was to breed new cattle that would produce quality meat. This is what he has done with Angas beef.

“Kaya 'yung ating baka has inherent genetics na masarap, masarap kasi talaga ang Batangas beef. It’s known all over the Philippines at saka sa international, alam din nila na masarap ang Angas beef,” Villamin said.

(That's why our beef has inherent genetics that is delicious, Batangas beef is really delicious. It's known all over the Philippines and in the international [scene].)

DV Boer Farm is behind the first commercial stud farm in the Philippines. It has successfully turned the lowly native cattle into world-class beef, enabling its meat to get a trademark and win the approval of discriminating chefs from first-class hotels and upscale restaurants.

“By putting new technologies, new ways of raising animals ay nakapag-produce tayo ng quality beef na puwedeng itapat sa mga imported. Hindi ito kagaya ng ibang imported na ginagamitan ng hormone para tumaba. Ang ating mga baka, dahil tayo ay sagana sa damo, 100-percent grass fed sila kaya sila ay healthy,” Villamin said.

(By putting new technologies, new ways of raising animals we were able to produce quality beef that can match imported ones. This is not like imported beef that uses hormones to fatten them. Our beef, because they have plenty of grass, they are 100-percent grass fed that's why they're healthy.)

“Majority of the cattle are from Southern Tagalog, Region I [Ilocos], II [Cagayan], and Masbate. Batangas cattle raising is a system wherein the cattle are confined and fed to ensure maximum growth," said Dr. Paul Limson, chief of the Beef Cattle Research and Development Center.

DV Boer Farm chef Timothy West said Angas Beef is aiming to conquer not only home tables but also the international gourmet scene with its taste and flavor. People can enjoy good quality steak at an affordable price. The business also helps bring more local jobs and grow the economy.

“The quality of Angas beef is just as good as Angus. I personally tasted it myself. The flavor is there. The tenderness is there and it’s right up there with all the high "talk of the town" beef. By creating great quality beef here, you don’t need to import from all these other countries, and this will allow the steak price to go down,” West said.

Villamin also provides opportunities and services in the agri-business sector for Filipinos abroad, including sustainable, modern and sub-farming, livestock investment such as chicken, rabbit, goat and cattle raising, rice and corn farming, and other microfinance business ideas.

“There is hope in agriculture and livestock farming and this could also be an option for OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) who would like to come back to the Philippines for good,” Villamin said.