President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said he is eyeing to replicate the state-owned mall in Indonesia and build ones in the Philippines to promote the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and their local products.
In a media briefing before he traveled to Singapore, Marcos said the idea came after President Joko Widodo invited him to a local mall and toured him around.
“Bago ang dinner namin, pinuntahan namin yung mall. Yun pala, ‘yung mall na ipinakita sa amin, gobyerno ang may-ari at saka ang produktong pinagbibili doon sa loob ng mall, lahat local, lahat MSMEs, lahat maliliit,” he said.
Marcos said all the stores are strictly for MSMEs only and if there are big stores, they are transferred to regular malls.
“Sabi ko, baka pwede natin gawin sa Pilipinas. Marami, we had a very good exchange of ideas. Sabi ko naman sa Pilipinas, ganito ginagawa namin. I was describing ‘yung OTOP - One Town, One Product. Sabi ko, pero maliliit, so kailangan turuan and nag agree na naman kami,” he said.
OTOP is a program implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that provides package assistance to capacitate MSMEs and opens market hubs where locally made products are sold.
Marcos said Widodo welcomed the ideas he mentioned and they recognized that the two countries have similar programs for the MSMEs.
“Sabi niya, oo, kailangan natin turuan ‘yung packaging, ‘yung market, kung ano ‘yung hinahanap sa merkado, how do you business plan, ‘yung mga ganung klaseng bagay na pareho sa atin. Kaya’t the parallels between Indonesian experience and Philippine experience is very evident,” he said.
“We will build on that. Ang maganda nito, Jakarta, Indonesia [have] long standing relation [with the Philippines], 73 years na tayo mag partner. So, meron talaga tayong pundasyon na maganda na we can build on to develop all of these,” Marcos added.
The President also shared that he also met with big businessmen in Indonesia and said they were “enthusiastic” on starting businesses in the country.
“Sabi ko come to the Philippines, so they all committed naman. Many of them are already actually involved in the Philippines. So sabi nila palalakihin nila ‘yung kanilang involvement. Gusto nila mag-expand,” he said.
