Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Tuesday, April 9 urged the private sector to participate in the work of crafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 11981 or the Tatak Pinoy (Proudly Filipino) Act.

Angara said the private sector, as the principal stakeholders of the law, particularly the domestic enterprises, should play an active role in ensuring that RA 11981 will be properly implemented and will achieve its goal of improving the competitiveness of Philippine industries.

“The Tatak Pinoy Council (TPC) has started its work on formulating IRR of the Tatak Pinoy Act and in coming up with a Tatak Pinoy Strategy that will serve as the foundation of the law in attaining its various objectives,” Angara said.

“We encourage the private sector to participate in the process as their inputs would be essential as the ultimate beneficiaries of the law,” he said.

Angara, principal author and sponsor of the Tatak Pinoy Act, expressed his gratitude to Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual for convening the TPC for its first meeting last April 3, 2024 where he discussed the Tatak Pinoy Industrial Policy (TPIP).

The TPIP is a program that outlines a holistic set of priority initiatives and projects designed to promote economic complexity and diversification, targeting industries with high global growth potential and implementing targeted interventions such as significant investments in industrial innovation, skills training, and market expansion.

“Whereas, in the past there were different policies being implemented by each agency of government, the Tatak Pinoy Act harmonizes all of these policies so that all efforts will be coordinated towards the goal of industrialization,” he said.

“This is a whole-of-government, whole-of-country approach and as such we need everyone to work together as one well-oiled machine,” the senator said.

The Tatak Pinoy Act primarily seeks to empower Philippine industries to produce better, globally-competitive goods and services.

During the first meeting of the TPC, Pascual emphasized the necessity of helping industries produce more diverse and higher quality products and services in order for the Philippines to move up the global value chain.

Agreeing to Pascual’s vision, Angara said it is necessary for the Philippines to not only be globally competitive, but also to improve the incomes of the workforce.

“With like-minded people being part of the TPC, we are optimistic that the various government agencies and instrumentalities will be working on the same page and Tatak Pinoy Act will be able to achieve its goals and bring us closer to becoming an industrialized country,” Angara said.

“Why be content with manufacturing and assembling simple goods and components for other countries and then importing the very products where these components go to when we could be producing these here, be it by our local companies or the multinationals that will locate in our country,” Angara said.

With the law already in place, the senator said he is optimistic there is now a bigger opportunity for the Philippines to finally break out and join the ranks of the world’s fastest growing and strongest economies.

“We should all work together in grabbing this opportunity for the benefit of our people now and for future generations,” Angara said.

The lawmaker said urged the private sector groups to participate in the focus group discussions / public consultations on the drafting of the IRR for Tatak Pinoy which will be held on the following dates:

• Industry associations and businesses: April 11, 2024

Agriculture and manufacturing (10:00 AM to 12 NN)

IT-BPM and services (1:00 PM to 3:00 PM)

• Academe, civil society organizations / non-government organizations, and labor groups: April 12, 2024 (1:00 PM to 3:00 PM)

• Public consultation: April 16, 2024 (1:00 PM to 3:00 PM)

The venue, he said, will be at the DTI Regional Operations Group Multi-purpose Conference Room, 6/F. DTI Main Building, 361 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Ave., Makati City.

President Marcos had signed the Tatak Pinoy Act last Feb. 26, 2024, citing that the law upholds the administration's goal of having an inclusive economic growth and development in the country as the law is geared at encouraging, supporting, and promoting the production and offering of local products and services of increasing diversity, sophistication, and quality by domestic enterprises that are globally competitive.

According to the President, “Tatak Pinoy” is more than a branding exercise, as it is aims to provide incentives to local products that deserve to carry the “Made in the Philippines” trademark.