Friday, December 7, 2007
Baguio City -- About a thousand small-to-medium-entrepreneurs (SMEs) and Local Government Unit (LGU) representatives attended the 1st National One-Town-One-Product or OTOP Summit that was held at the Philippine Trade and Training Center in Manila recently.
Ex-Governor Morihiko Hiramatsu of Oita Prefecture, Japan who is also known as the father of OTOP spoke on how they revitalized their "Isson-Ippin-Undo" or the One Village-One Product Movement and how they gained high praises both in Japan and overseas for their unique trade activities.
A 1995 recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, Hiramatsu surprised the summit participants when he illustrated how a simple product such as Shitake mushroom can become more profitable than manufacturing a motor car mentioning the top car maker in Japan as his basis.
Stressing the need for quality maintenance and consistency in the delivery of good products and services, Hiramatsu also presented key factors to a successful entrepreneurship and that is the abundance of raw materials and labor force to mention a few.
Governors Maximo Dalog of Mountain Province, Nestor Fongwan of Benguet and Flordella Diasen of Kalinga along with top officials and entrepreneurs of the Cordillera and other regions heard the first hand information from the OTOP originator himself.
DTI Undersecretary Carissa Cruz-Evangelista of the Regional Operations Group that coordinated the summit showed optimism and confidence that the OTOP program will deliver its expected part to poverty alleviation. Evangelista also underscored the intensified consciousness of all stakeholders in harmonizing plans and programs that will forge more linkages that would "mainstream into the realization of the program's goals".
As part of her report on OTOP, Evangelista said that DTI created, reinforced and sustained the vital links needed to run the program. Stressing that partnership with LGU executives paved and rolled out the implementation of the program, the Undersecretary reports that out of the 16 regional model OTOPs in 2004, the program now has a total of 1.145 municipalities and cities with 70% LGU participation to date. To ensure the success of the OTOP program, Evangelista finally added that DTI will intensify the advocacy efforts as the lead implementor of the program. (DTI-CAR)
