The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pushing for the passage in the remaining year of the Duterte administration of a number of legislative measuresthat it said will sustain the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
In his address at the National MSME Week yesterday, DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said the agency is working with lawmakers for the passage of the amendments to the Magna Carta on MSMEs, which would seek to extend the mandatory allocation of credit resources to MSMEs as well as bills that would institutionalize the One Town One Product (OTOP) and the P3 or Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso programs.
The OTOP bill institutionalizes the OTOP program to guide local government units on the comprehensive assistance and holistic approach to support MSMEs, effectively legislating market access to these businesses
Lopez said the P3 bill will ensure the continuity of the credit program that weans MSMEs away from 5-6 and mproves their access to credit.
“We’ve been promoting and widening the reach of our MSME development programs,” Lopez said.
Pending are Senate Bill No. 2017 or “An Act Providing a Socialized Microfinancing Program for Micro Enterprises Thereby Promoting Entrepreneurship” which aims to address financing concerns of micro enterprises throughout the country and help them sustain their businesses and House Bill No. 7446 which seeks the creation of the P3 Fund for beneficiaries such as market vendors, agri-businessmen and members of cooperatives, industry associations, and cooperators.
Since its launch in 2017, the program has so far released P8.8 billion loans to more than 200,000 microenterprise borrowers. It is being renewed annually by the DTI under the General Appropriations Act.
House Bill 9350, which institutionalizes OTOP Philippines, was passed in third reading last June.
It mandates the DTI to provide a package of assistance for MSMEs to help them develop innovative and more complex products with significant improvement in the areas of quality, product development, design, packaging, compliance with standards, marketability, production capability, and brand development.
The bill aims to secure the annual funding of OTOP to provide increased levels and value of assistance to MSMEs.
An OTOP Philippines Trustmark shall be established as an indication of assurance that a product represents the country’s best–meaning, it has been marked excellent in terms of quality, design, value, and marketability.
Since the establishment of OTOP in 2004,
50,323 OTOPreneurs were created which generated sales worth P5.5 billion. – Irma Isip
