Both houses of Congress have ratified a bill institutionalizing the Philippine Export Development Program (PEDP) that President Marcos recently approved to make local products more competitive overseas.
With a vibrant export program, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuete said the economy will be “more resilient and inclusive by energizing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
One of the measures ratified by the House of Representatives and the Senate before they adjourned sine die was the bill institutionalizing the nearly decade-old “One Town, One Product (OTOP)” initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to prop up small entrepreneurs and stimulate economic activity, especially in the countryside, said Villafuerte, who had co-authored this measure.
He said the 19th Congress’ 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.”
Villafuerte said approval of the OTOP bill was also well-timed as the Philippines has just joined the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the China-led 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.
