DTI seeking P100M funding for Otop program

The Department of Trade and Industry is seeking a P100-million budget for its One Town, One Product (Otop) program, to enable it to better support micro-entrepreneurs nationwide.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said the department had asked Congress to include this amount in next year’s budget.

“This is what we’re asking for, but we’ll probably get something less. Even less than P100 million is better than this year’s budget for Otop, which is zero,” he said in a recent interview.

Apart from government funding, he said the DTI would continue to ask members of Congress to allocate a portion of their priority development assistance fund to Otop programs in their respective districts.

In an earlier interview, Domingo said Senator Loren Legarda had committed part of her pork barrel to support the Otop program.

“But we’ll still ask some of the representatives, so we can augment whatever budget will be given to us,” he said.

The Otop program formed part of the 2004-2010 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan and was instituted mainly to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs.

The DTI decided to continue the program, as it had “proven to be an effective strategy for economic development,” folding it into the department’s regional clustering program.

Support will continue to be given to the Otop flagship industries, such as bayong, engineered bamboo, microwavable saba banana, pangasius, veggie noodles, virtual poultry, water hyacinth and the Sub-Contracting Partners for Innovation (Spin) project.

The DTI also plans to integrate the program with the government’s tourism program by using these products as come-ons to prospective tourists. These products would be made available in tourism-related establishments nationwide.