National Unity Party (NUP) president and Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte sees the enactment of the law institutionalizing the “One Town, One Product” (OTOP) program as “timely” as it “dovetails” with a recent directive by President Marcos for concerned government agencies to implement programs and projects meant to develop and promote Philippine exports.
Villafuerte said that Republic Act (RA) 11960, which institutionalized the OTOP program of the Department and Trade and Industry (DTI), provides for a strategic program to round off the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2023-2028, which President Marcos is banking on to make our products more competitive overseas and our economy more resilient and inclusive post-pandemic by energizing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
PEDP 2023-2028 aims to boost the country’s competitiveness in merchandise exports, given that the Philippines is “a laggard in exports, particularly in the export of goods.
“This newly signed OTOP Law will prop up PEDP 2023-2028, which aims to transform our country into an export powerhouse of high-value products and services before or by the time President Marcos leaves office in 2028,” said Villafuerte, who co-authored RA 11960.
The Palace issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 23 last June 20 in step with the President’s approval of the PEDP 2023-2028.
Sixty (60) days upon the effectivity of MC 23, concerned agencies must submit to the Export Development Council (EDC) and to the Executive Secretary an inventory of relevant programs, activities and projects which are aligned with the strategies under the PEDP 2023-2028.
Villafuerte explained that the OTOP Law seeks to support small entrepreneurs and stimulate economic activity, especially in the countryside.
He said the 19th Congress’ earlier approval of the OTOP bill was “timely as the President had just approved the DTI-drafted PEDP amid a weakening export sector resulting from a looming recession in the US (United States) and a global economic slowdown.”
He said the enactment of the OTOP Law is also well-timed as the Philippines has just joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the biggest free trade pact that could benefit Filipino exporters by way of possibly higher sales of their lower-taxed goods to other RCEP member-economies.
RA 11960 was signed by President Marcos last week along with RA 11958, which rationalized the disability pension of veterans; and RA 11959, which aims to strengthen the conservation and protection of our cultural heritage through cultural mapping and an enhanced cultural heritage education program.
“This OTOP Law will help shore up the medium-term PEDP and address the not-so-favorable trade data in which exports suffered a two-digit dip in April arising from the risk of a recession in the US, which has dampened global demand for products,” Villafuerte said.
As Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual has pointed out, the PEDP 2023-2028 aims to boost the country’s competitiveness in merchandise exports, given that the Philippines—as Pascual noted—is “a laggard in exports, particularly in the export of goods—those merchandise exports,” Villafuerte said.
And the “OTOP Philippines Act” will help fix this weakness, according to Villafuerte, as it proposes a package of interventions to improve the quality of products that our towns have to offer and intensify government efforts to market them abroad.
“Economic growth will never be truly inclusive,” he said, “without a strategic national program to supercharge MSMEs, considering that they make up 99.5% of local businesses and employ at least 60% of our workers,” he said.
Villafuerte said, “That making an all-out effort to upgrade the quality of our local goods and aggressively promote them in international markets is crucial to making our merchandise exports more competitive abroad and more resilient in the face of challenges, such as the currently weak demand abroad as a result of a looming US recession and a global downturn.”
He explained that in bolstering the six-year PEDP of the Marcos administration, “The OTOP Law will lead to a more inclusive growth as its intervention programs are meant to energize local entrepreneurs and industries, especially those in the countryside, and create more jobs and livelihood opportunities for rural folk.”
It seeks to boost MSMEs with viable products to sell, he said, by providing them with a package of assistance for developing new and innovative products with significant improvement in the areas of quality, product development, design, packaging, standards compliance, marketability, production capability and brand development.
“This OTOP Law will help shore up the medium-term PEDP and address the not-so-favorable trade data in which exports suffered a two-digit dip in April arising from the risk of a recession in the US, which has dampened global demand for products.”
This measure will institutionalize the DTI’s OTOP Philippines program to serve as the government’s stimulus package for the promotion of MSMEs in the countryside through the use of indigenous raw materials and the utilization of local skills and talents, he said.
Villafuerte said that in his home province of Camarines Sur, for example, there is the P230-million Sustainable Agriculture and Fishery Enterprises (SAFE) Innovation Hub, which is being built as a coconut processing and marketing center in the province’s capital of Pili.
President Marcos, who had visited this facility, inquired about it from Villafuerte during the Vin D’Honneur event at Malacañang Palace to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Philippine Independence, and said he was looking forward to its eventual export of value-added coconut products.
Villafuerte told the President this world-class facility is expected to be fully operational in three to six months.
President Marcos visited this facility last March when he went to Camarines Sur to break ground on a trailblazing, high-rise mass housing project with 10,000 units—the first such joint venture that the Administration has undertaken in partnership with a provincial local government unit (LGU), under its ambitious Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program.
Villafuerte noted that President Marcos launched PEDP 2023-2028 to–in the words of the Chief Executive–“bring up our game” to double our country’s export level from $126.8 billion this year to $240.5 billion in 2028.
As DTI’s Pascual pointed out, the PEDP 2023-2028, is aimed at turning the country into an “agile export powerhouse” by boosting the country’s competitiveness in, among others, merchandise exports, given that the Philippines—as Pascual noted—is “a laggard in exports, particularly in the export of goods—those merchandise exports,” Villafuerte said.
Under the PEDP, 8 sectors are projected to account for 88.5% of Philippine exports by 2028–electronics; IT-BPM (Information Technology and Business Process Management), minerals, agriculture and agri-based exports, transport products, wearables and fashion accessories, chemicals, and home furnishings.
