DTI to create community clusters across the country

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) vows to establish over 1,000 community clusters this year across the country, as it moves to strengthen its support to develop the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Trade secretary Gregory Domingo announced that the government targets to generate P6.79 billion in investments this year and US$448 million in export revenues this year.

The industry clustering development he said is expected to create 1,794 MSMs and assist 6,349 existing ones.

Already, the government has initiated a clustering project in Kalinga and Mountain Province, through a coffee clustering program, Domingo mentioned.

DTI has identified 14 priority industry clusters in the Philippines that include raw materials supply chain, processed tropical fruits, processed fish and marine products, leveraging industry supply chain network for tourism, processed meat and livestock, other agri-based industries, coco products, rubber, information and communication technology or ICT, metals and metalworks, furniture and furnishings, ceramics and pottery, mining and renewable energy.

According to Domingo these clusters have 34 industries, 24 of which are under the National Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (NICCEP).

NICCEP is a three-year project that aims to enhance the capacity of selected industry clusters to plan, implement, facilitate service delivery, evaluate projects and improve industry competitiveness and business environment.

With this, Domingo said SMEs in the industry and services sectors are expected to be globally competitive, considering that the program’s components he said are product development and market promotion, equitable financing/credit assistance, shared service facilities and micro-enterprise development.

In a report, the NICCEP created 1,427 MSMEs and assisted 3,740 companies that employed 97,243 workers, last year. This generated P4.76 billion investments and export sales of US$1.05 billion.

Domingo added that apart from NICCEP, the government is continuously undertaking programs to develop the MSME sector, including the Rural Microenterprise Promotion Program (RuMEPP), the Access of Small Enterprises to Sound Lending Opportunities (ASENSO), and the DTI-Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

The SME sector comprises about 99.6 percent of all registered firms nationwide, it employees 69.9 percent of the labor force and contributes 32 percent to the country’s economy.

In Cebu, the regional offices of the DTI and the Department of Tourism (DOT-7) had already announced its plan to formulate a good clustering program to boost the tourism sector, specifically in the countryside areas.

One aspect that is now being looked at is the development of  the southern cluster in Cebu which include the towns of Boljo-on, Oslob, Samboan and Santander.

These four towns in the southern part of Cebu is one of the strongest tourism clusters for the province.

Alternative livelihood for the residents should be introduced, while helping the local government units (LGUs) to draw our plans in developing other tourism related destinations, such as old churches, museums, beaches, natural resources like waterfalls, apart from the famous whale shark watching in Oslob town. — (FREEMAN)