Exporters’ woe: Zero funding from gov’t

DAVAO CITY—Exporters are getting zero support from the government judging by the absence of funding for an export development program that is under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), according to the head of a group of exporters during a congress here.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., national president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation (PhilExport), said while the government has created a so-called Export Development Council (EDC), its source of funding called the Export Support Fund (ESF), has not received any allocation from the government.

Ortiz-Luis, speaking to reporters at the opening on Thursday of the three-day Mindanao Exporters Congress, said ESF coffers are empty. “Basically, the ESF has no fund,” said Ortiz-Luis.

He said of the estimated P2.9-billion annual budget the DTI receives, 80 percent goes to maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

Exporters, he said, access credit through a facility mandated by the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), which is being facilitated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The Magna Carta mandated an allocation of 8 percent of available loans for microenterprises and 2 percent for small and medium enterprises.

Ortiz-Luiz, however, said MSMEs still had difficulty availing themselves of loans mandated by the Magna Carta. The ESF, he said, would have been an alternative source of capital for exporters.

Because the ESF could not provide them any support, Ortiz-Luis said exporters, through PhilExport, have asked Congress to amend the implementing rules and regulation of the Magna Carta to make loans more accessible to MSMEs.

Luwalhati Antonino, chief of the Mindanao Development Authority (Minda), said the increase in Mindanao’s Gross Regional Domestic Product—8.2 percent in 2012—illustrated the island region’s “inherent capabilities for economic growth.”

But Antonino admitted that without “an enabling environment, this encouraging performance” could not lead to “sustained export growth.”

She said the government should continue to strive at lowering the cost of transport of commodities and facilitate the efficient transport of export products from Mindanao’s gateways to target markets.

“There can be many, many ways to do this. And our task ahead is huge,” said Antonino.

“But one of the key steps we need to take is to look into the competitiveness of our industries and our export sector. We need to become more competitive,” she said.

Ferdinand Marañon, PhilExport Davao chapter president, said the government should also address the limited availability of funds because unless this is done, only a few small exporters would be able to find markets overseas.

“If government wants to propel growth in the export market, it should provide a little subsidy to small exporters,” he said. Judy Quiros and Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao