For another ₱700 Million, DTI Slow.. and OVER SLEEPING with several millions unused fund for countryside’s MSME Shared Facility

Philippine' Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) big dreamer and oversleeping!  slow.. slow.. slow… !

 

How could the Philippines compete with other ASEAN countries in 2015 if this DTI' attitude is always in sleeping and dreaming?

 

The ASEAN countries including the Philippines agreed for "1 ASEAN Market in 2015" patterned alike to European countries but survey shows the Philippines is not yet ready and not yet competitive enough to join the 1 ASEAN Market 2015.

 

1 ASEAN Market in 2015 is Unstoppable! Neighbors are quick and fast preparing while the Philippines is still sleeping (Pilipinas! Nagmata ka lang ug MORNING)

 

When the 1 ASEAN market will open in 2015, it's comparable to a huge flood with strong current of products from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei and Laos to flow and invade to the Philippine Market without tax while Philippines would only show the rotten bananas! (bang!!!!)

 

With ASEAN-China, ASEAN-Korea and ASEAN-Japan FTA agreement.. China's cheap products will dominate and flow like smelly pieces to the Philippines without Tax and invade the market then kill the local micro and small enterprises without any products and strength to resist and shield the flow of the other dominant market.

 

In less than 2 years, the invasion is set to happen but the Philippine' micro and small enterprises is not yet ready, no shields and nothing to produce, no processing plant, nothing at all. But yes!, the government handover ₱700 Million to the DTI.

 

The Department of Trade and Industry in-tasked for helping the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises  (MSMEs) in the countryside to set up the shared services facilities (SSF) for processing equipment and facilities for private sector partners but ended up to plan and proposals only without a quick action to materialize the plan.

 

• WHAT ARE YOU DOING DTI WITH THAT SEVERAL MILLIONS ON HAND?
• WHY DON'T YOU MOVE QUICKLY TO EQUIP OUR MSME SO THEY COULD PREPARE FOR THE "1 ASEAN 2015"?
• WHY DON'T YOU PRIORITIZE THESE MSMEs THAT WOULD SERVE AS MICRO ARMIES OF THE PHILIPPINES TO PRODUCE PRODUCTS TO COMPETE WITH OTHER ASEAN?
• WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT MILLIONS SLEEPING IN THE POCKET?
• YOU HAVE THE PLAN, THE PROPOSALS AND YOU HAVE APPROVED BUDGET AND HAVE FUND! WHEN ARE YOU PLANNING TO USE THEM, IT'S NOT YOURS DTI!!!
• WHY ARE YOU ASKING FOR ANOTHER ₱700 MILLION FOR NEXT YEAR WHEREIN HUGE CHUNK OF THE FUND FOR THIS YEAR'S REMAINED UNTOUCHED?
• ARE YOU COLLECTING FUND FROM THE TAX PAYER FOR FUND COLLECTION HOBBY?
• WAKE UP NOW DTI!!!

 

How could the small and micro enterprises in the countryside leap to compete with other ASEAN if the Plan of DTI is only for a big dream without any action?

 

DTI holds huge untouched fund for the small and micro enterprises for the shared services facilities (SSF) for processing equipment and facilities but never materialized their plans even with approved budget.

 

As reported in GMA News , the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) intends to spend up to ₱700 million next year to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) produce goods and make businesses competitive, , noting the amount was included in the proposed 2014 budget to cover the shared services facilities (SSF) program.

 

"Another proposed ₱700 million in DTI's budget for the SSFs next year," Trade Undersecretary for Regional Operations and Development Group Zenaida Maglaya told reporters at the Asian Development Bank's Second Inclusive Business Forum for the Philippines.

 

"We can have more than ₱700 depending on the value of the SSFs," Maglaya said, referring to the number of SSF programs.

 

This year, the department also allocated ₱700 million for program, but the Trade official noted a chunk of the money remains unused.

 

The balance, she said, will be used to fund other SSFs being proposed. "We have enough proposals," Maglaya added.

 

The DTI program aims to support MSMEs, particularly in the countryside, in producing goods and in competing with other businesses by setting up processing equipment in facilities of private sector partners which the MSMEs and cooperative can use.

 

More than 90 percent of registered businesses are MSMEs, and the department wants to help the enterprises which generate jobs and contribute to economic growth. 

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Philippines files graft cases against lawmakers with Principal witness Benhur Luy

Principal witness Benhur Luy, left, wears a bulletproof vest as he is sworn by Julieta Calderon, Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer II, as they submit papers at the Office of the Ombudsman, or the anti-graft prosecutor in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. The Philippine Justice Department filed the first major corruption complaints against three powerful senators, former lawmakers and a wealthy businesswoman Monday following a public outcry over the alleged plunder of millions of dollars intended for anti-poverty projects. Aaron Favila / AP Photo

 

The Philippine Justice Department filed the first major corruption complaints against three powerful senators, former lawmakers and a wealthy businesswoman Monday following a public outcry over the alleged plunder of millions of dollars intended for anti-poverty projects.

 

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the complaints against the lawmakers, including veteran Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, alleged that they conspired with dummy aid organizations to steal millions of dollars in government funds that should have been used for agriculture and livelihood projects that the lawmakers had designated as recipients for the funds.

 

The alleged kickbacks were part of $141 million transferred from 2007 to 2009 to dozens of questionable non-government organizations, including those put up by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, according to a government audit that was part of the evidence used against the lawmakers.

 

Thirty-eight people were named as respondents in Monday's complaints, including staffers of the lawmakers, but de Lima said more people will be charged. The recommended charges range from plunder — a non-bailable crime — to misuse of public funds, bribery and graft.

 

There was so much documentary evidence that justice officials used a truck to haul the papers to the Office of the Ombudsman, or the anti-graft prosecutor, in a convoy of vehicles that was trailed by the media and beamed live on nationwide TV.

 

The prosecutor will evaluate the evidence before forwarding the case to an anti-graft court, which will decide whether to issue arrest warrants.

 

The scandal caused such an uproar in the impoverished nation that hundreds of thousands of people turned up at a huge protest in Manila last month.

 

At the center of it is Napoles, who is accused of acting as a conduit for the money and a mastermind of the scam. She surrendered to President Benigno Aquino III in August after she was charged with illegal detention of a whistle-blower.

 

"This is a cleansing process," said Senate President Franklin Drilon.

 

One of the respondents, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who is a son of an ousted president, told his colleagues Monday that he was innocent. He said that Enrile, at 89 the oldest senator, was taken to a hospital over the weekend for high blood pressure but that he would challenge the charges in court.

 

The complaint has recommended the plunder charges be laid against Enrile, Estrada, Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. and two former members of the House of Representatives for allegedly pocketing more than 50 million pesos ($1.4 million) each.

 

Enrile said in a statement that the complaint was filed after an incomplete investigation.

 

"Let me make clear that I am innocent of the charges filed against me," he said.

 

Three other former House members are being accused of misuse of public funds, bribery and other corrupt practices for receiving less than 50 million pesos each. Napoles is named co-conspirator for both the plunder and the misuse of public funds charges.

 

A summary of the complaint said the scam starts with an agreement between a lawmaker and Napoles to designate her NGOs as recipients of special development funds that each member can allocate. The lawmaker allegedly then got 40 to 60 percent of the project's cash value as a kickback, while Napoles gave 10 percent to the head of the government agency implementing the project and pocketed the rest after deducting the cost of overpriced supplies.

 

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez contributed to this report.

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