By Hannah Torregoza
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Sunday assured that the government has enough support to step up efforts to improve the quality of products and services produced in the country.
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara (Senator Sonny Angara Official Facebook Page / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee, said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) received an unprecedented increase in the 2020 national budget to further pursue and boost initiatives under the government’s “Tatak Pinoy” program, which seeks to promote more locally produced products to the global market.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) received an unprecedented increase in the 2020 national budget to further pursue and strengthen initiatives under the government’s “Tatak Pinoy” program, which seeks to promote more locally produced products to the global market.
The senator said the DTI’s budget has seen a steady increase from a total of P4.67-billion in 2017 to P5.86-billion in 2018, P6.1-billion in 2019, and P7.98-billion in 2020.
“We cannot be contented with what we have and what we have already achieved. Our growth has been fueled by consumption and if we are to progress to the next level, we must work on making a shift from a consuming society to a producing society,” Angara said in a statement.
Likewise, funding has also been provided for the establishment of more Negosyo Centers around the country to help MSMEs or micro, small and medium enterprises in getting their businesses up and running faster.
The Negosyo Centers help facilitate the business registration of MSMEs and provide them with mentoring and advisory services so that they could better navigate and access the various credit and financing sources, as well as markets, suppliers and buyers.
On top of this, the DTI also received funding support of P200-million for its One Town, One Product (OTOP) Next Gen program, which aims to level up products and services through innovation in the areas of quality, product development, design, standards compliance, marketability, product capability and brand development.
“Innovation is key to improving the products and services that we already have in order to make them more marketable and economically-viable both domestically and abroad,” Angara said.
Under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2020, Angara also said P300-million is also allocated for the Innovation Fund as mandated under the Republic Act 11293 or the Philippine Innovation Act.
On top of this, the 2020 national budget also contains P80-million for the modernization and revitalization of the DTI’s Bureau of Philippine Standards Testing Center.
This will enable the DTI to strengthen the presence of MSMEs in the global marketplace through increased participation in overseas trade promotion events, particularly for the food and lifestyle sectors.
“These initiatives are all part of what I would like to call the ‘Tatak Pinoy’ campaign. Tatak Pinoy is not only about improving Philippine products and services, but also the processes involved in making them; increasing the value of our exports; and most importantly, creating opportunities for our people,” Angara explained.
“We want to see innovation, we want to see a productive society once again…
We are just educating for migration. We want to educate for domestic production. We want to help our domestic industries,” the lawmaker stressed.