The House of Representative has approved a P420-million budget for the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with part of this amount to be used for the Department of Trade and Industry’s One Town, One Product (Otop) program.
House committee on trade and industry chair and Bataan Rep. Albert Raymond Garcia assured Otop proponents, led by Trade Undersecretary Merly Cruz, that Congress was willing to support the Otop program, not only by means of funding, but also through legislation.
The House of Representatives, he said, would support the Otop program via the enactment of enabling laws and provision of legislative oversight.
The P402-million that the House approved for MSME development, on the other hand, would be used for entrepreneurship and skills training, policy studies formulation, and MSME development advocacy.
In an earlier interview, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said the Otop program needed at least P100 million in funding every year to bankroll its efforts to support MSMEs nationwide, especially in the countryside.
No budget was allotted to the program this year, as it was supposed to have already ended in 2010.
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, it had “proven to be an effective strategy for economic development,” folding it into the department’s regional clustering program.
During its five-year run, the Otop program surpassed all of its key targets. According to DTI data, the program generated close to P11.2 billion in investments from 2005-2010, 50 percent more than its original target.
It also generated almost P16.6 billion in domestic sales, 34 percent higher than projected, and $677.2 million in export receipts, more than 30 percent more than expected.
The Otop program also assisted in the development of 45,820 MSMEs, more that 71 percent more than the originally envisioned, and generated 444,709 jobs.
The new five-year chapter of the Otop program, formally launched two weeks ago at the first Otop National Expo, aimed to generate 2 million jobs by 2016, in line with the goals set under the MSMEs Development Plan.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer - October 10, 2011