DTI-BTRCP Holds Public Consultation for Revised BN Law on Aug. 20

Do you have comments and questions on the revised Business Name (BN) Law that would further streamline and accelerate the processing of BN applications?

The Department of Trade and Industry - Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection (DTI-BTRCP) will hold a public consultation to further amend the revised implementing rules and regulations of the BN Law on August 20, 2010 at 1:30 in the afternoon, Sacred Heart Center, D. Jakosalem St., Cebu City.

Salient features of the BN Law or DAO 10-01 Series of 2010 as amended will be intensively discussed. Topics include application form contents, registration fee, territorial applicability of BN registration, among others.

A copy of the draft Business Name Law may be accessed at www.dti.gov.ph.

Comments on the draft law may be emailed to btrcp@dti.gov.ph. However, attendance to the public consultation will provide participants with a more thorough understanding of the law.

For Cebu participants, they may confirm their participation to the public consultation with Gina or Melvin of DTI Central Visayas Regional Office at tel. nos. 255-0036 or 412-1989 loc. 305.

The public consultation in Cebu on the revised implementing rules and regulations of the BN Law is made possible with the assistance of the DTI Central Visayas Regional Office.

DTI focuses on innovation in Sandugo Trade Expo on July 21-25

Innovation is the main focus for this year’s Sandugo Trade Expo 2010 which opens from July 21 to 25 at the Island City Mall, Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

Working on the theme “Materials Fusion - Heritage for the Future,” this year’s trade event will not only feature world class product lines and prototypes for handicraft, processed food, fashion accessories and GTH.

This year’s trade exhibition will also highlight the first output of the materials research and development program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP).

Central Visayas is taking advantage of the popularity of indigenous materials among foreign buyers and the increasing preference of many consumers for environment-friendly products with the Materials R & D project.

ECCP is presently assisting raffia weavers in Bohol in developing new design patterns and mixed media applications based on the latest trends.

The output will be converted into actual products by select exporter companies who will have exclusivity on their chosen materials for at least a year. Other patterns developed will be displayed at the Materials Library at the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation (CFIF) building.

Bohol is one of the provinces in the region that supplies raffia of good quality and along with innovative and artistic designs by weavers, Cebu exporters expect more Filipino made products to hit it big in the international market.

”As demand for Filipino products increases, so does profit for exporters. This provides more work opportunities for weavers”, DTI explains.

“With mixed media applications, weavers use recycled materials such as newspapers and old plastic twine with raffia. They also use other indigenous materials like buri and abaca, among others, in incorporating the new designs.”

So far, the program has tapped the weavers in Inabanga and Tubigon towns. The program will also be offered to weaving centers in other Bohol municipalities if the volume of products increases, DTI said.

The innovation of Bohol’s weaving centers is a seven-month project of the ECCP and the DTI in Central Visayas.

Materials R & D began in January this year and is geared to assist raffia weavers, particularly in the enhancement of their skills and improvement of their product designs.

As in the past, there will be guest exhibitors from other regions during the Sandugo Trade Expo.

The trade expo is a culmination of a series of product development initiatives geared towards improving the quality and design of the export oriented crafts and ethnic food in Central Visayas.

Bohol’s annual Sandugo Trade Expo has been running every July for the last twenty one years. This fair is one of the longest running annual provincial trade fair in the country and it has already established name recall and recognition among local and international buyers,

Cebu named best honeymoon site

Cebu was named “Best Honeymoon Destination” at the awards night of the World Trade Fair 2010 in Shanghai, China.

The competition was decided by a public vote and a strict evaluation process undertaken by professional jurors from the Shanghai Tourism Municipal Administration, VNU Exhibitions Asia and Shanghai International Conference Management Organization.

The World Trade Fair brought hundreds of participating countries and organizations all over the globe. In attendance in this year’s expo at the Shanghai Exhibition Center were about 500 tourism players.

At present, Cebu enjoys a steady influx of travelers, with top markets including Korea getting close to 30 percent of the market share, Japan with almost a quarter; and United States and China getting almost the same.

Last year’s World Trade Fair, held also in Shanghai, had also been highly memorable and optimistic as the Philippines clinched the “Most Popular Destination in Asia” award, the highest recognition given during the event.

While total China outbound travel grew only by 4 percent in 2009, outbound travel from Eastern China to the Philippines has been growing at an average rate of 40 percent in terms of visa issuances since the opening of the new Philippine Tourism Office in 2007.

In 2004 there were only some 32,000 Chinese tourists in the Philippines. By 2009 the number is set to surpass 200,000.

In Central Visayas Chinese arrivals more than doubled for the first 11 months in 2009 compared to same period in 2008. As of November last year, mainland China is the fourth-biggest market of the region, hitting more than 56,000 arrivals, while Hong Kong is near to breaking the 30,000 mark. (Business Mirror)

FREE SEMINAR FOR POTENTIAL ENTREPRENEURS IN CENTRAL VISAYAS ON APRIL 15

Dubbed Negosem, the seminar for potential entrepreneurs will be held at the Cebu Grand Majestic Convention Center from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., on April 15, Thursday, this year.

The event is spearheaded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Center for Enterprises (PCE) and is part of the 16 region road-show seminar series on entrepreneurship that aims to help fledgling micro and small businesses on the basics of establishing an enterprise.

According to DTI, Negosem will focus on practical how to's in starting a sustainable business, covering topics such as How to Start a Business, Finding Business Opportunities and Choosing the Market for Your Business, The Best Methods for Sustaining Growth, Developing and Innovating Actual Products and Services, Marketing Your Business, Funding Your Business and Managing Your Finance.

The seminar's framework will delve more on practical, informative, and useful strategies on marketing, product development and financial management.

Negosem taps on “Go Negosyo” Angelpreneurs to be seminar speakers. Go Negosyo is an advocacy program of the PCE, a non-stock, non-profit and non product endorsing organization that advocates for a change in mindset and attitude by instilling optimism and business spirit among Filipino business people and entrepreneurs. Go Negosyo also aims to popularize entrepreneurship as an alternative to unemployment, job-seeking or migration.

DTI and PCE believe that poverty in the country can be addressed by engaging in entrepreneurship and developing an optimistic, creative, innovative, resourceful, diligent and persevering character.

According to the DTI, Negosem is anchored under the spirit of private-public sector partnership and on a mandate to create more entrepreneurs thereby increasing livelihood and employment opportunities for the marginalized sector.

Participation to the seminar is on a first come, first serve basis. For reservation and more information, interested parties may call on the Provincial Offices: DTI-Cebu tel nos. (032) 412-1863 or 253-2631; DTI-Bohol tel nos. (038) 411-3302 or 501-8260; DTI-Negros Oriental at tel. nos. (035) 225-4781; 422-1764; DTI-Siquijor at tel nos. (035) 344-2238 or 480-9065.

DTI Secretary supports local manufacturers

Local manufacturers, who have been crying foul over the flooding of cheap imports in the domestic market, have found an ally in the newly-appointed Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Secretary Jesli Lapus, in a speech before members of the newly-organized Filipino Cebuano Business Club Inc. at the Sacred Heart Center on Saturday, specifically cited the plight of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, whose survival is at risk with the tariff-free entry of imported products to the country.

Lapus said that there must be safeguard measures put in place against the dumping of cheap imported goods to the market to protect our local industries, especially the MSMEs, from dying as well as protect the consumers from an inevitable increase in consumer goods.

“These imported goods are cheap now. But once our local industries die and there are no local products to compete with them anymore, then (importers of these products) can now sell them at a higher price,” he said


Some of our local manufacturers in Cebu such as garments and shoes manufacturers have closed shop, as they are unable to compete price-wise, with imported products.

Garment manufacturer Victor Tan earlier said in a report that the lack of regulation of imported garments, aside from the proliferation of “ukay-ukay,” which are also imported, have affected the local garment manufacturers.

Filipino Galvanizers Institute president Salvio Perez also said in a national report that China’s exports of subsidized pre-painted and galvanized steel sheets to the Philippines are hurting the local industry.

Meanwhile, Lapus said the DTI is now working on the MSME Development Plan for 2010-2016, the successor plan of the MSME Development Plan for 2004-2010. Lapus said he will ensure that provisions for more business development services to strengthen the MSMEs in the country will be put in place.

Lapus, former secretary of the Department of Education, is a professional manager in the manufacturing and financial sectors. He has post-graduate studies in the fields of Investment Appraisals and Management and Management of Transfer Technology, among others.

He served as undersecretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform under the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino and as chief executive officer and vice chairman of the board of directors of the Land Bank of the Philippines under the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos.

DTI & PCE CONDUCT NEGOSYO SEMINAR FOR MSMES, APRIL 15

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced that there will be a free seminar for budding and potential micro, small and medium entrepreneurs which will be held at the Cebu Grand Majestic Convention Center from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., on April 15, Thursday, this year.

In coordination with the Philippine Center for Enterprises (PCE), the seminar will cover topics such as How to Start a Business, Finding Business Opportunities and Choosing the Market for Your Business, The Best Methods for Sustaining Growth, Developing and Innovating Actual Products and Services, Marketing Your Business, Funding Your Business and Managing Your Finance.

According to the DTI, the seminar is anchored under the spirit of private-public sector partnership and on a mandate to create more entrepreneurs thereby increasing livelihood and employment opportunities for the marginalized sector.

Seminar speakers and lecturers are chosen from the business sector by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship –Go Negosyo.

Participation to the seminar is on a first come, first serve basis. For reservation and more information, interested parties may call on the DTI Provincial Offices: DTI-Cebu tel nos. (032) 412-1863 or 253-2631; DTI-Bohol tel nos. (038) 411-3302 or 501-8260; DTI-Negros Oriental at tel. nos. (035) 225-4781; 422-1764; DTI-Siquijor at tel nos. (035) 344-2238 or 480-9065.

In today’s global economy, our entrepreneurs need the skills and capability to manage resources in a highly competitive and fast changing environment.