The new president and chief executive officer of the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) has vowed to implement key policies of transparency and accountability in serving the public.
Undersecretary Emmie Liza "Doc Molly" Perez-Chiong, who took the helm of the PITC last November 11, assured the Commission on Audit that the trading corporation will return the unutilized funds as soon as proper accounting is completed.
“PITC had returned more than half of the unexpended funds of my predecessor. We will strictly comply with the COA recommendations. We thank the COA for calling our attention,” Chiong said.
PITC is a government trading company tasked to do government-to-government, business-to-business, and business-to-consumer transactions through international trade services such as exports, imports, and customs bonded warehousing, and procurement.
“The PITC plays a key role in helping Philippine companies export their products, government agencies to procure equipment and supplies, and also avail of services of experts,” said Perez-Chiong, a graduate of the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman and a dentist by profession.
Under her leadership, Perez-Chiong said PITC will be more responsive to procurement requirements of government agencies.
She also wants to help more Philippine companies including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in exporting their products to other countries.
PITC teaches Philippine entrepreneurs how to export their products by giving them information on quality, packaging, and marketing, and linking them to foreign markets such as supermarkets, retail and wholesale outlets, and manufacturing and construction firms.
“We want to help Philippine entrepreneurs and companies to expand their businesses to international markets. Our expertise can help realize their goals,” said Perez-Chiong.
She explained that PITC implements countertrade in accordance with Executive Order 120 as "an attached GOCC to the DTI in all of its procurement service when applicable."
"We enforce countrade on all our procurement process. That is why procurement in PITC has added value," Perez-Chiong added.
PITC engages in countertrade, an international transaction that is premised on some form of reciprocity.
Countertrade, under the Philippine government, is a transaction that involves the importation or procurement of foreign capital equipment, machinery, products, goods, and services.
According to Chiong, countertrade benefits the procuring of government agencies and maximizes the value of the money.
One of the countertrade policies of the PITC is offset in which a primary supplier agrees, as a condition of sale, to introduce industrial and commercial activities for the benefit of the buyer or buyer’s country. These can be industrial cooperation and participation, investments, technology transfer, grants, training and skills upgrades, research and development, and donations.
Under PITC’s countertrade is counter purchase in which a primary supplier accepts parallel obligations to purchase products or services from the buyer's country.
“The PITC is committed to revitalizing the Philippine economy through its key programs and policies,” said Perez-Chiong.
Earlier, COA called out the PITC and seven other government firms for over P13.7 billion in unused funds allotted for the implementation of programs and projects of other government agencies.
The 2020 COA report on government corporations showed that PITC and the other state firms did not fully liquidate the funds they received or return unused funds to source agencies.
