By Philippine News Agency The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Cordillera is encouraging underground micro-entrepreneurs in the region to formalize their businesses, so they can enjoy government incentives under the Barangay Micro-Business Enterprise (BMBE) law. “We highly encourage micro enterprises to register their businesses and avail of the incentives under the BMBE Law,” DTI Cordillera Information Officer Arthur Joel Tibaldo told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday. The same advice was given by DTI Regional Operations Group Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya in a statement on Saturday. Tibaldo said formalizing micro businesses would benefit not only the small entrepreneurs, but also Filipinos seeking employment and the entire national economy. The BMBE law acknowledges micro enterprises as “seedbeds of Filipino entrepreneurial talents, and strengthening them would increase job generation, provide livelihood, and augment Filipinos’ quality of life”. The law aims to “integrate micro-enterprises in the informal sector into the mainstream of the economy”. The benefits under the BMBE are: income tax exemption from income arising from the operations of the enterprise; exemption from the coverage of the Minimum Wage Law (BMBE employees will still receive the same social security and health care benefits as other employees); priority to a special credit window set up specifically for the financing of BMBEs; and technology transfer, production and management training, and marketing assistance programs for BMBE beneficiaries. Local government units may also reduce the amount of local taxes, fees, and charges, or even exempt BMBEs from local taxes, fees, and charges. The DTI said about a third of all the country's establishments are micro, small, and medium enterprises. Tibaldo said micro enterprises had provided 2.37 million jobs to Filipinos, making up 62.8 percent of the country's workforce. Under Republic Act No. 9178 or the BMBEs Act of 2002 under then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a microenterprise is "any business entity or enterprise engaged in the production, processing, or manufacturing of products or commodities, including agro-processing, trading, and services, whose total assets, excluding land, shall not be more than PHP3 million". Such assets include those arising from loans, but not the land on which the plant and equipment are located. Tibaldo said BMBE certificates are free of charge for registrants at the DTI offices or Negosyo Centers nationwide. To date, there are over 800 Negosyo Centers nationwide that assist microenterprises to facilitate their registration and even give free consultation to would-be entrepreneurs. As of April 31, 2018, a total of 28,531 micro enterprises have registered under BMBE since DTI started accepting applications in January 2016.