Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara has assured that the proposed council that would be tasked to formulate strategies under the proposed “Tatak Pinoy” (Proudly Filipino) Strategy law would be coordinating closely with other government agencies and independent councils.
Angara pointed this out during his interpellation on Senate Bill No. 2426 or the proposed “Tatak Pinoy” Act (Proudly Filipino Act) when Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III asked about the possible overlapping functions of the Tatak Pinoy Council (TPC) that would be created once the measure is passed into law.
While Angara conceded that the TPC will definitely have overlapping functions with other councils, what is important is that there is coordination between these bodies in order to ensure there would be no replication of functions during the implementation of the law.
The senator said the measure seeks to ensure that all government agencies, including the TPC, would be moving towards a single direction or working to attain a common objective.
But Angara explained that what would make TPC different from the other bodies—such as the Creatives Industry Development Council or the Innovation Council—is that they are stakeholder, industry or purpose specific in their functions.
Whereas, the TPC would be focused on making the Philippines more prosperous by diversifying and improving the complexity of products being produced in the country, according to the lawmaker.
Citing the Atlas of Economic Complexity developed by Dr. Ricardo Hausmann of Harvard University and Cesar Hidalgo, Angara said the Philippines already ranks 33rd among 128 countries, and the data suggesting that the country has a lot of potential to produce complex, high-value products, but this has yet to be unlocked.
“So, this is where the Tatak Pinoy strategy and the TPC comes in to ensure that the philosophies of constantly improving, adding value, becoming more sophisticated becomes fully imbibed within our government and even in the private sector,” Angara said in defending the bill.
Angara pointed out that four representatives from the private sector will join the TPC as members.
The TPC is a policy and advisory body that would be tasked to formulate policies and programs that will diversify the productive capabilities of domestic enterprises and increase the country’s economic complexity.
Citing Taiwan as an example, Angara pointed out that in decades past it had a reputation of producing cheap but sub-standard products.
But after imbibing the spirit of complexity, it has finally transformed itself as one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of high-tech goods and has positioned itself firmly in the global supply chain.
Thus, he said, once the measure is enacted into law and with the creation of the TPC, there should be a sustained production of Filipino-made goods in order to meet the demand of the global market.
As such, Angara said this would necessitate “an all hands on deck” attitude from all the key players in government and the private sector.
“We must have a commitment from all parties to move up to the production of higher-value products. There are infinite possibilities but finite time and resources. So we have to make difficult decisions such as focusing on products that could be big winners in the world economy,” Angara said.
Currently, amendments are currently being introduced on SB No. 2426 and once completed, the Senate could proceed to approving it on third and final reading. President Marcos has included the “Tatak Pinoy” bill as one of the Marcos administration’s priority measures.