The Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) office in Pangasinan has targeted nine municipalities in the province as first recipients of the “Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay,” which aims to assist and encourage community residents to engage in business.
During the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas forum in Dagupan City, DTI-Pangasinan Director Natalia Dalaten said they have already launched the project in the municipalities of Labrador, Laoac, Burgos, Sto. Tomas, Balungao, and Basista.
It is scheduled to be launched in the municipalities of Natividad, Sta. Maria, and Bautista this month, Dalaten said.
“During the launch, we hold a meeting or forum in the barangay where the project is discussed. We also present to them the other projects and services they could avail from DTI and other invited agencies,” the trade official said.
“Then, we meet with the Barangay Development Council for them to have a simple socio-economic profile of their barangay. From there, we will know what businesses are applicable to their community or what industries or businesses we could assist or help,” she said.
Dalaten further noted that barangay officials were being capacitated on how they could help their respective barangays in terms of engaging in business.
“Through this project, we help them discover what businesses they could do based on the abundant products they have.”
“They could advise or refer to proper agencies their constituents. Through this project, we help them discover what businesses they could do based on the abundant products (raw materials) they have or we do value-adding to their existing products,” she said.
Dalaten further said that they help micro, small and medium enterprises engaged in the underground economy, or those with unregistered businesses.
“We encourage them to register because we cannot assist SMEs without names.”
“We discovered almost 95 percent of businesses in the areas have no business registrations. We encourage them to register because we cannot assist SMEs without names. They only need to pay (a) minimal amount for their permit, and the process in acquiring was made easy and fast. They could also avail (of) our services and other agencies’ services if they are registered,” she added.
The Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay program covers fourth, fifth and sixth class municipalities or those with low income, targeting 20 percent of the total barangays of each municipality.
The municipalities in Pangasinan are classified as fourth and fifth classes.