Retailers urged to use more local goods

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima has urged Philippine retailers to increase the local content in their supply chains to further boost the country’s small enterprises and help generate much-needed jobs in the countryside.

Purisima told reporters during the 22nd National Retail Conference that such a move would, at the same time, help ensure the sustainability of the retailers’ respective businesses.

“Look at how you can engage Filipino suppliers. Some (retailers) want to do corporate social responsibility (projects) but these are not sustainable. Use your budget to help the country. Instead of using imported vegetables, you can help local farmers produce vegetables according to your standards,” Purisima said.

“Retailers should organize a reverse trade fair to (engage small local firms) and show them what you need to buy…Toyota held a reverse trade fair before that was  why it was able to increase its local content,” he added.

The Jollibee chain of restaurants, he said, had also been buying onions from local farmers, and had engaged the wives of the farmers for other tasks such as peeling and chopping of the produce according to the company’s standards.

According to Purisima, the government is willing to extend its assistance and provide incentives to companies that will increase their local content.

“We support the (granting) of perks, except for income tax holiday. The idea of perks is to make businesses viable. If they are making money, that means they are now viable and if they are viable, they have to pay taxes,” Purisima said.

“(Government) assistance can be in terms of infrastructure. It can also be through making credit valuable to their suppliers and supporting firms with training through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda),” he said.

“Assistance can also be in the form of training and making it easier for the small enterprises to carry out processes, which is now happening through the Department of Trade and Industry’s shared service facilities (SSF) program,” he said.

“I hope more retailers can be like Nestle, Jollibee and Toyota in helping the community. If they do that, they will also help themselves. The market becomes stronger. We can’t produce everything, but those that we can produce, we should use,” Purisima added.