By: Atty. Gregorio B. Austral, CPA
Tatak Pinoy
Congress recently passed Republic Act No. 11981, or the “Tatak Pinoy (Proudly Filipino) Act,” to encourage, support, and promote the production and offering of Philippine products and services of increasing diversity, sophistication, and quality by globally competitive domestic enterprises.
Under the law, the State aims to implement the following policies, among others:
To elicit pride for Philippine products and services, and to ensure adequate and steady supply of highly skilled and adaptive workforce, the State shall develop and promote the knowledge, skill, ingenuity, creativity, and innovativeness of Filipino workers, craftsmen, laborers, entrepreneurs, and professionals.
The State shall promote and safeguard the quality of Philippine products and services in both the domestic and global market, as means for encouraging economic growth and consumer and business confidence in Philippine industries.
The State shall give preference and priority in the procurement of Philippine products and services in accordance with applicable laws on government procurement. Towards this end, the Tatak Pinoy Council, hereinafter referred to as the “TP Council,” shall formulate metrics on how government agencies and instrumentalities can give preference and priority to Philippine products and services.
The Tatak Pinoy Council, a new council within the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), shall serve as the policy and advisory body to the President and shall adopt a whole-of-government approach, and formulate policies and programs that will diversify the productive capabilities of domestic enterprises and increase the country’s economic complexity.
To achieve the objectives of this Act, a Tatak Pinoy Strategy (TPS) shall be formulated, implemented, monitored, evaluated, and continuously improved upon by the TP Council and approved by the President of the Philippines. The TPS shall outline the plan and action components for the country, and for the regions, provinces, cities, municipalities, to incrementally and systematically expand and diversify the productive capabilities of domestic enterprises and empower them to produce and offer increasingly diverse and sophisticated products and services, and compete in the global market: Provided,That in approving the TPS, the President may only expand from existing pillars identified under this Act: Provided, further, That the President shall ensure coordination and collaboration among TP Council members.
The TPS shall include plans and programs comparable with international best practices, which shall be organized according to the following TPS Pillars: (1) human resources; (2) infrastructure; (3) technology and innovation; (4) investments; and (5) sound financial management.
Under each TPS Pillar, the TP Council shall identify relevant public-private initiatives and the government support or assistance to be provided per targeted sector or economic activity.
On paper, the law looks promising. With the right budget, council members, and cooperation from both the public and private sectors, we hope to have more products and services we can claim as “proudly Pinoy.”