by admin | Mar 14, 2017 | DTI Updates
The Department of Trade and Industry through its Go Lokal! store project showcased outstanding Filipino products from 18 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) during the ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM) Retreat and Related Meetings last March 8-10 in Pasay City, Manila.
“This is the first time we showcased Go Lokal! products through an exhibit. We hope to showcase more of these globally competitive products of our MSMEs from the regions in the succeeding ASEAN-related events. We see that this is the best time to feature our products to our ASEAN neighbors,” said DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez.
Products sourced from various MSMEs in the country include fashion accessories, bags, and home decors. DTI is expected to showcase more of the Go Lokal! products in the upcoming 30th ASEAN Summit in April and at the 31st ASEAN Summit in November.
Go Lokal! is a design-led concept store showcasing modern and indigenous quality products crafted, designed, and created by innovative Philippine micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). It can be found in consumer-frequented locations as a mainstream distribution channel for world-class products while offering value for money to the Filipino consumer.
Go Lokal! is a public-private collaboration initiated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) serving also as incubation, marketing, and branding platform for the best of Philippine MSME products including the next gen One Town One Product (OTOP) offerings.
“With Go Lokal, we would like to maximize the growing domestic consumer market. Through this, we are also helping our MSMEs in mainstreaming their products,” explained DTI Undersecretary for Industry Promotion Group Nora K. Terrado.
At present, the DTI’s Go Lokal! has signed memorandum of agreements (MOAs) with the country’s chain of malls such as Robinsons Department Store and DoubleDragon’s CityMall. For the growing tourism industry, it has also signed with Enchanted Kingdom through its Agila Theater’s Pugad Souvenir Shop. Go Lokal! is one of the many projects of DTI in providing market access to micro entrepreneurs across the country.
DTI wishes to partner with more private sector entities such as ports and top tourists destinations in the Philippines for the said project. The Go Lokal! Project is part of the One Town, One Project (OTOP) program of DTI.
by admin | Mar 14, 2017 | DTI Updates, National News, World
The Department of Trade and Industry’s Consumer Protection Group (DTI-CPG) joins other member organizations of the Consumers International (CI) from different countries in the celebration of the World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) on 15 March 2017.
The Consumer Protection and Advocacy Bureau (CPAB), under the DTI-CPG, in coordination with the Consumers International (CI), holds a half-day Consumer Forum on 15 March, from 1:00PM to 5:00PM at the Robinsons Galleria Activity Area in commemoration of the WCRD.
The WCRD is an annual occasion which marks the day when the late US President John F. Kennedy formally addressed the issue of consumer rights on 15 March 1962 at the US Congress. It provides an opportunity to raise global awareness about consumer rights which must be protected and respected at all times.
This year’s celebration theme is “Building a Digital World Consumers can Trust”, which pushes for
better digital access, security, understanding and redress.
The forum topics include E-Commerce Business Ethics and Trends in Online Shopping, Tips to Avoid Online Shopping Fraud and Scam and Promotion and Development of E-Commerce in the Philippines.
The keynote message will be delivered by DTI-CPG Undersecretary Atty. Teodoro C. Pascua, while the forum speakers are Director Mark Joseph Panganiban of the Digital Commerce Association of the Philippines (DCOM), Inc.; Supervising Agent Martini Cruz of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Division Chief Maria Crispina S. Reodica of the DTI-E-Commerce Office.
The DTI-CPAB has invited participants from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), consumers, academe, youth, DTI employees, LGU and other government agencies to attend the event.
Undersecretary Pascua asserts, “Through the Forum, the Department aims to create and promote a reliable digital economy that consumers can depend on without having to worry about their safety and security”.
“Aside from prioritizing the rights of the consumers, the DTI-CPG particularly identifies the Filipino students, as millennials, to actively participate in the advocacy program for consumers to understand their rights and to exercise them”, Undersecretary Pascua adds.
The Department intends to educate students on their privileges as consumers knowing that they are more likely to engage in many online transactions and be involved in e-commerce activities.
For the forum, the DTI-CPAB invited the contest winners of the “Tanghalang Pangmamimili” that was conducted by the DTI’s Regional Office of CALABARZON (Region-IVA) to show their winning performances.
The Tanghalang Pangmamimili is a competition among CALABARZON students that happens every October in celebration of the Consumer Welfare Month. It is a stage play wherein students perform situations that consumers face concerning their rights and responsibilities.
In line with this, the DTI-CPAB will formally launch its “Dulaang Mamimili”, a nationwide contest in order to influence the youth, especially students, to become more aware of their rights and responsibilities and use them.
by admin | Mar 13, 2017 | DTI Updates, Headlines, National News
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon M. Lopez met with senior executives of Japan’s seven major trading houses in Tokyo recently (March 1, 2017) to discuss President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic programs and Japanese Companies investment interests in the Philippines, conservatively valued at Php198.5B.
During a breakfast dialogue, Lopez—together with Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and PH Ambassador-Designate Jose Laurel V—got together with representatives of the sogo shoshas or Japanese companies with a broad range of business activities. Companies present at the meeting were Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui and Co., Ltd., Sumitomo Corporation, Itochu Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, Toyota Tsusho, and Sojitz.
“Through sound and consistent macroeconomic policies, the country continues to attract serious investments. The fundamentals are there in terms of a fast-growing economy, a 109-million population base, standing trade agreements, and a young, talented, and dedicated work force,” Sec. Lopez said on the Japanese companies’ willingness to investment in the Philippines.
“All these—plus political will and focused trade and investment policies—act as a magnet for foreign investments,” Sec. Lopez added.
The investment interests of the sogo shoshas would cover the period spanning late 2016 to 2020, and include:
- Marubeni willing to invest in additional coal power plants worth Php75B over the medium term;
- Itochu and Sumitomo (through PH subsidiaries Dole and Sumifru respectively) willing to invest an additional Php12.9B through 2018 to expand their integrated farming projects in Mindanao;
- Sumitomo, Sojitz, and Mitsui jointly invested in Coral Bay Nickle Corporation and Taganito High Pressure Acid Leaching (THPAL) Nickle Corporation in Surigao and Palawan, at a cost of Php80B;
- The CARS program, under the DTI-driven Manufacturing Resurgence Strategy, enjoying the support and participation of Mitsubishi, Sojitz, Mitsui, and Toyota Tsusho; and,
- All 7 trading houses expressing interest in the Philippines’ “Golden Age of Infrastructure,” i.e. the Railway and Subway Projects, the Clark Green City Project, the Expanded Port and RoRo Building Programs, and the Airport Development Projects.
“With DTI’s inclusive business model, our resource-based country has the potential to become a major supplier to the world by fostering value chain linkages and partnerships between the MSMEs as suppliers of goods and services, and the large enterprises as buyers,” Sec. Lopez said.
When asked about the Philippine government’s mining and tax policies, Secretaries Tugade and Lopez responded that government reforms are being crafted along balanced and fair consideration of both industry and consumer interests.
They also assured investors that with public sector agencies rigidly adhering to President Rodrigo Duterte’s zero corruption dictum, projects would receive adequate protection and fair treatment.
The two officials likewise encouraged the Japanese trading houses to use their expansive business systems to help in planning an efficient set of economic infrastructure, such as farm-to-market roads, bridges, seaports, airports, railways for cargo, passengers and RORO vessels, and service providers
by admin | Mar 13, 2017 | DTI Updates, Headlines, National News
The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is now finalizing the general policies and specific guidelines of the 2017 Investments Priorities Plan (IPP) following the approval by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte of the plan on 28 February 2017.The IPP, approved through Memorandum Order No. 12, was published in the March 3, 2017 issue of Manila Bulletin and will take effect on March 18, 2017.
The IPP was approved as proposed by the BOI. The submission to the Office of the President on December 29, 2016, three months ahead of the March 31deadline under the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987, and the subsequent approval of the new IPP is a milestone for the agency.
Trade and Industry Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez welcomed the early approval of the new IPP saying “this development is concrete proof of the administration’s decisiveness to further propel the growth of investments and job generation in the country and attain sustainable economic growth”.
The IPP is a list of priority investment activities that may be given incentives. With the theme “Scaling Up and Dispersing Opportunities,” the 2017 IPP brings forth significant additions and changes, following the President’s zero + 10-point Socio Economic Agenda, the aspirations embodied in AmBisyonNatin 2040, and the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022. Broadly these changes include further emphasis on innovation-driven and job-generating businesses; inclusive business for agribusiness and tourism; broadened coverage of manufacturing; information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services for the domestic market and telecommunications services for new market players; environment and climate change-related projects; LGU-initiated PPP projects; drug rehabilitation centers; state-of-the-art engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services; and the lifting of geographical restrictions for most agriculture and tourist accommodation facilities.
Formulated through a participative, analytical, and multi-sector process, the new IPP is expected to generate more investments to strengthen manufacturing resurgence and create more jobs as targeted in the PDP 2017-2022. The BOI-approved investments grew 20.4 percent in 2016, reaching P441.8 Billion from the P366.7 Billion registered in 2015. This is the second highest since 2000, with the highest registered in 2013 at P466 Billion. The 20.4 percent growth also exceeded the agency’s 7 percent growth target for 2016.
The BOI is set to conduct IPP Roadshows in key cities all over the country to be led by Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo to inform and promote to the various stakeholders the salient features of the new IPP.
For more information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph#
by admin | Mar 12, 2017 | Headlines, Kita ug ang Gobernador, Local News / Bohol Balita
IT WAS IN the late 19th century when the International Council of Women (ICW), the first international women’s rights organization, was formed.
Now, more than a century later, women’s rights organizations are still going strong; and women all over the world have chosen the Month of March as International Women’s Month and March 8 as International Women’s Day (IWD).
In the Philippines, the designated month and day are the same as that of the IWD’s, given credence through Presidential Proclamation No. 227 series of 1998 and Republic Act 6949 series of 1990, respectively.
As per Joint Memorandum No. 2017 by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Department of Education (DepEd), this is to give recognition to the important role and contribution of women to Philippine society.
This year’s theme is “Be Bold for Change.”
To ensure a more meaningful and uniform observance of the 2017 Women’s Month here in Bohol, and in consonance with the Philippine Commission of Women and Women’s Month Celebration, Liza M. Quirog, Gender and Development (GAD) Focal Person and SEEM Cluster Head of the PGBh, informed all concerned that the PGBh, through Gov. Edgar M. Chatto, is strongly supporting the advocacy with the theme, “We Make Change Work for Women.”
The same memo enjoins all local chief executives to conduct simultaneous and synchronized activities mentioned therein.
These are the conduct of a Female-led Fun Run (Run for a Cause) last March 8 at 5:00 in the morning; immediately followed by a Zumbabae for All (Zumba).
A three-day rummage sale also began last March 8, coinciding with a Poster/Slogan Contest on the same day.
Come Wednesday, March 15, a City/Municipality Advocacy Campaign for Anti-Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) will be staged simultaneously in all local government units (LGUs) in Bohol.
Precisely a week later, that is, on March 22, all LGUs will again simultaneously conduct a Barangay Anti-Illegal Drug Campaign, together with the DepEd, PNP, and the Liga ng mga Barangay.
Both Gov. Chatto and Ms. Quirog are urging every woman to actively join in the activities to ensure and celebrate the independence and power of the female specie. (JLV/PGBh/EDCom)
