The Philippines targets to become the number one in creative industry in Asean by 2030.
The creative industry targets to moredouble its workforce and increase its contribution to the economy.
Rep. Christopher de Venecia, principal author of the Creative Industries Development Act, at the media launch of the Philippine Creatives Industries Month in Manila yesterday, vowed to give the sector a much higher budget in 2024, topping this year’s P410 million.
De Venecia made this commitment as allotment for the creative industry has been set at just P50 million in 2024.
De Venecia said the Philippines has contributed P1.6 trillion to the economy, or about 7.34 percent of total output, just behind agriculture and tourism.
The industry, which has about 9 sub-sectors, currently employs 7 million.
De Venecia said these have been achieved even without a law.
The Creative Industries Development Act was signed into law in July 2022, providing a framework for developing the industry.
De Venecia said the creative industries have not reached their full potential even as the Philippines is already number one in creative services and number five in creative products in Asean.
He cited high power rates, struggling manufacturing base and logistics concerns as the challenges faced by the creative products segment of the industry.
De Venecia said the focus now is to attract more investments, expand the market and increase exports and eventually contribute higher to the economy, much like what South Korea has done to its own GDP.
He said latest and future developments would boost the creative industry.
These include a recent commitment for the Philippines and Indonesia to forge a memorandum of understanding on cooperation initiatives; the entry of a big investment approved by the Board of Investments; the signing into law of Cultural Mapping which empowers local government units to map out creative industries; and partnerships with the Department of Tourism this December and with the Department of Interior and Local Government in 2024.
