Presidential candidate Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ M. Lacson has added the ‘One Town, One Product’ (OTOP) policy of the incumbent leadership to the growing list of programs that he plans to continue under his possible administration once he is elected as the 17th president.
The OTOP is a priority stimulus program implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to spur inclusive local economic growth through the development and marketing of featured products and services from a particular locality.
At the recently concluded first round of the ‘PiliPinas Debates 2022: The Turning Point' of the Commission on Elections (Comelec),’’ Lacson, Partido Reporma standard-bearer, said he is inclined to sustain this type of program as a matter of policy towards ensuring the sustainability of livelihood and job opportunities for the Filipinos.
“Napakaraming dapat gawin. ‘Yung sa agrikultura, ‘one town, one product’ na kung saan matutulungan (din) natin ‘yung mga magsasak (We have a lot of things to do. For agriculture, the ‘One Town, One Product’ (program), which can also help our farmers),’’ said Lacson in addition to supporting the move of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to revive the economy under Alert Level 1.
Despite accumulating a wealth of knowledge through his decades of experience in public service, Lacson said he still makes room for new information and a lot of it is filled by ordinary people he would normally encounter during the campaign period.
Lacson told debate moderator Luchi Cruz-Valdes that his awareness over the plight of marginalized sectors in our society was heightened when he and running mate Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ C. Sotto III held conversations with them on their campaign trails.
‘’We are learning a lot and we’ve also been helping people on the spot. Instead of holding rallies, Senate President Sotto and I chose to do dialogues with multisectoral organizations and we educated them, especially the tricycle drivers, farmers, fisherfolk,’’ he pointed out.
Lacson mentioned that some members from these sectors were not informed that they were entitled to receive fuel subsidies from the national government whenever global prices of oil would skyrocket at a furious pace.
The longtime public servant also linked up several farmers to a research and development facility at the University of the Philippines-BIOTECH in Los Baños, Laguna for their organic fertilizer needs during their recent visit to the Cagayan Valley region.
`According to Lacson, these situations gave him and Sotto the opportunity to enlighten the public about their flagship Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment (BRAVE) program to connect state-funded projects of the government to the needs and priorities of the local communities.
“Tamang-tama po ito sa aming plataporma, ‘yung tinatawag naming BRAVE... Bigyan natin sila ng mas malawak at malapad na papel sa pagbabalangkas ng kanilang local development plans at pag-implementa ng kanilang mga proyekto mapa-development man o mapa-livelihood projects (Our platform, which we call BRAVE, is so appropriate... We will give them {local government units} a wider role in crafting their local development plans and to implement their projects whether they are for {community} development or livelihood programs),’’ Lacson said.