The government should be more aggressive in coming up with ways to keep its citizens in the country if it wants to compete with the rest of the world.
Senator Sonny Angara says keeping homegrown Filipino talents at home is the key to improving competitiveness and in order to be successful in this effort, all of government should be involved.
A 2015 report on global diaspora by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) identified the Philippines as the second top country of origin, behind India, of highly-educated immigrants to OECD countries, sending up to 1.54 million Filipinos between 2010 and 2011.
The Asian Development Bank, in a 2017 report, also indicated that up to 64 percent of the Philippines’ highly-skilled workforce left the country in 2010.
Angara said an all-out “Tatak Pinoy” (Made in the Philippines) campaign should be pursued to create more jobs for the people, promote the Philippines’ brand as one with a strong identity, and consequently, bring the poor families out of poverty.
Among the first measures filed by Angara for the 18th Congress is Senate Resolution No. 4, which calls for the conduct of an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the formulation and sustained implementation of a Tatak Pinoy industrialization campaign and policy.
“I want to help set in motion a made in the Philippines, Tatak Pinoy campaign. This will require all regional development councils headed by governors and mayors to identify the products and services of their provinces and cities, and how to improve and promote them,” Angara said.
The Tatak Pinoy campaign should highlight the ingenuity, creativity and innovativeness of Philippine workers, craftsmen, laborers and professionals in order to create a global demand for Philippine products and services.
A successful Tatak Pinoy campaign, Angara said, will improve the country’s economic productivity and competitiveness, generate more decent jobs for Filipinos, particularly those in the countryside, and eradicate chronic poverty and inequality in the country.
“We have a wealth of resources that have yet to be tapped or are not fully utilized. Each region or province has something to offer and we just have to come up with innovative ways to promote them to the world,” Angara said.
“Albay is known for its abaca and Aurora for its coconut, but we have to find more uses for these products so that there will also be more and better job opportunities for people, especially in the provinces.
This is something that will define each province and unite us all towards a consciousness for made in the Philippines branding. The story of the Philippines the past decades is unfulfilled potential,” he added.
The senator cited the work of Kaayo Modern Mindanao of Marga Nograles as an example of a Tatak Pinoy success story, with its innovations on traditional woven textiles and marketing them as modern tribal fashion.
“Marami pang mga Tatak Pinoy na produkto at serbisyo na naghihintay lang na mapansin at maipakilala sa buong mundo,” Angara said
“My dream is that one day Filipinos don’t have to leave their country as OFWs and be separated from their loved ones to find employment. They don’t have to be overseas workers in order to survive,” he added.
