#MINDANAO
John Tria
Yes. The need to go online has become more acute because disruptions will be with us for a very long time.
Beyond this need, however, being online gives the opportunity to access new markets and suppliers. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) recently announced 68,000 new online seller registrations, a drastic increase from last year’s few thousand registrants.
(https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/11/dti-business-name-registration-for-internet-sale-soars-to-68000/)
This bodes well for the already growing Philippine e-commerce market. Now estimated in the billions of dollars by various experts, it is expected to grow further.
What helped this is the online registration at the DTI and increasingly in many local governments that have implemented digitalized business registration.
As I had written previously, formally registered business will be necessary if the business wants to expand through financing, as banks and some credit cooperatives require some form of formal registration if financing is to be availed of.
This will be crucial as opportunities in e-commerce beckon. For many businesses, going online will involve some tweaking in operations, employing digital tools to ensure security in the process that may require some investment.
For many of us in the Visayas and Mindanao, e-commerce is an opportunity for a wider market to see the diversity of Mindanao’s products and culture, which over the last three years has gained more exposure.
Online Kadayawan
The City of Davao has announced that it is launching a set of activities aimed to promote the annual Kadayawan festival online. This is a wise forward-looking move as it enables a now wider world to view this important festival that celebrates Davao’s diversity of cultures and abundance in food, especially fruits.
As the fruit season kicks in, many families will fill their fruit baskets with fruits like durian, marang, mangosteen, rambutan, and langka, the fruits of peaceful valleys as a song goes. This is a big help for many farmers. This will also drive increased restaurant patronage as families and offices celebrate this important festival.
Retail T bonds
The recent successful floating of new treasury bonds signals a high level of confidence in our economic prospects as our recovery continues, and provides many investors with a good yielding investment. A good number of them were made online from investors outside the Philippines.
Guard against online scams
We need to guard against online scams. Many banks have reported and warned against such scams. SOme of them ask for your credit card numbers to “register” an investment. Even government agencies such as the Bangko Sentral, the LandBank, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development have advised the public of such scams which we should all be wary about.
In particular, an IT expert has warned me of a wide array of problems. Apart from stealing identities, logging on or even watching such scams, which can come in the form of a doctored video or a “testimonial,” may install nasty stuff in your digital device.
The DSWD in particular has warned about these fake social media groups (https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/15/dswd-warns-public-vs-fake-social-media-groups-spreading-false-info-on-sap/) claiming to be “financial service providers” to “help” in SAP distribution.
Stay safe and vigilant everyone
Apart from Metro Manila and nearby provinces and a few other local government units, the rest of the country is now under Modified General Community Quarantine, and can resume a safe return to a wider array of economic activities. We encourage everyone to remain vigilant and follow protocols especially in the workplace.
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