DTI's 1-town, 1-product program gets support from Canadian gov't

In its goal to help alleviate poverty in the Philippines, the Canadian government has expressed interest to speed up the implementation of the One-Town-One-Product (OTOP) program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Through a possible partnership between the Canadian Executive Service Organization Business Advisory Project Phase 2 (CESO-BAP 2), and OTOP program, Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Sutherland said more countryside residents would be able to help small industries in the countryside.

According to Sutherland, CIDA's CESO-BAP will be working on helping the OTOP program, to strengthen identified industry niche of each town.

"We will be working with LGUs [local government units] in technology transfer, product improvement," Sutherland said.

In Cebu, OTOP has identified specific product niche in each town around the province to be the focus product line, and brand it well as town delicacy or specialty product.

OTOP, which was introduced last year, is a priority program of the Arroyo administration to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs in the countryside, especially in the rural areas.

Through OTOP local chief executives of each city or municipality take the lead in identifying, developing, and promoting a specific product or service, which is a potential competitive advantage.

CESO-BAP2 on the other hand, is a bilateral project between the Philippines and Canada that started in 1999 and is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). It aims to increase the operating effectiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Visayas and Mindanao.

Based on the report released by the DTI Cebu provincial office (DTI-CPO), the first phase of the OTOP project identified 12 municipalities in the province to actively work on program's implementation.

These towns include; Talisay City, Dalaguete, Carmen, Argao, Bantayan, Madridejos, Carcar, Consolacion, Sta. Fe, Compostela, San Francisco and Poro.

Talisay City has identified "Lechon" as their best delicacy product, as famous Cebu delicious Lechon was originated in Talisay many years back.

Dalaguete the vegetable basket in the province will have to get technical, as well as financial support from the government to market its vegetable products.

Carmen town with its handicraft making (Sinamay); Argao's Torta; boneless danggit in Bantayan, Madridejos with its famous "fish tocino"; Shoes product in CarCar; Consolacion "Saruk", Sta. Fe for tourism; Compostela's "Quiseo" or locally produced dairy product; "Suli-Suli" in San Francisco (Camotes) and Handicraft in Poro, (Camotes).

The concept of OTOP-Philippines is patterned after Japan's One-Village-One Product (OVOP) project, which was started in 1979 as a form of people's participation in the regional development of that country.

Its success prompted other countries like the Philippines, to adopt the concept in their own areas as an effective tool for poverty alleviation, particularly in the rural areas.

OTOP concept has been established in Thailand, Vietnam, Malawi, Cambodia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

Because of the potential to help create entrepreneurs in the countryside, thereby seen as an effective tool to alleviate poverty, Sutherland said the Canadian government would work closely with LGUs in the OTOP implementation in order to push accelerated result.

Now, on its six-year implementation, the CESO-BAP 2 program has evolved into a sustainable assistant arm of small companies in Visayas-Mindanao, as the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) has entered into the project, and together created the Corporate Volunteers for Enterprise Development (CVED).