Senator Koko Pimentel III is urging the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to develop in-house an online shopping platform for Philippine-made or Philippine-grown products and help micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Acknowledging the use of digital technology as the new normal, Pimentel is pushing for a Filipino-made selling platform as an alternative to Lazada, Shopee, and other e-commerce apps and help MSMEs recover from the economic effects of the pandemic.
“The idea is that the seller must be an MSME and the product being sold must be made or grown in the Philippines.”
“I challenge the DTI to come up, in house, with an online shopping platform. The idea is that the seller must be an MSME and the product being sold must be made or grown in the Philippines. A transactional shopping platform and not a mere ‘portal’ listing MSMEs and their products,” the veteran legislator said.
The seasoned lawmaker, who chairs the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship also called on the DTI to fully utilize Filipino talent in the programming of the easy-to-use online shopping application designed for MSMEs.
”We should turn COVID-19 adversities into opportunities for our fellowmen and small businesses to restart, recover, and grow.”
“Ilabas ang galing ng Pilipino hindi lang sa negosyo. Ilabas na rin ang galing ng Pilipino sa computer programming. There’s no other way but to go digital. We should turn these COVID-19 adversities into opportunities for our fellowmen and small businesses to restart, recover, and grow. If we help them now, we are also helping the Philippine economy,” the senator stressed.
The proposal to develop an online selling platform exclusively for Philippine products was raised by Pimentel in the DTI’s budget hearing after Secretary Ramon Lopez said that some 90,000 MSMEs remain closed after Luzon was placed on lockdown in March.