Monday, July 07, 2008 P100M credit facility available for Armm's Otop initiatives
KORONADAL CITY -- The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has allotted a P100 million credit facility for the development of "One Town, One Product" in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
Armm Governor Datu Zaldy U. Ampatuan ordered the region's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to help the bank in reaching out to local government units (LGUs) and businessmen avail the financial opportunity to come up with a unique product.
Last week, the region's Trade department and DBP officials oriented local government units (LGUs) and businessmen about the DBP-Otop financing program in Cotabato City, Armm's administrative seat.
Joaquin E. Gelvezon, DBP assistant vice president and co-author of the bank's Otop financing program, said the bank considers Otop as a flagship program meant to improve the quality of life in the countryside by promoting entrepreneurship, creation of more jobs and reduce rural poverty.
"This credit facility is not just a lending program, it is about transforming lives full of hope," Gelvezon said.
"We are touching base with LGUs and micro, small and medium enterprises especially in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao. (We are also) focusing our sights in areas in Southern Mindanao which were either unserved or underserved," he added.
Gelvezon announced the bank has allotted a total of P2 billion fund allocation for the DBP-Otop financing program, where P100 million is allocated exclusively for the autonomous Muslim region.
The bank, according to Gelvezon, will finance up to 90 percent of the projects' total costs that are deemed technically, economically and environmentally viable.
Otop is a priority program of the Arroyo administration to promote entrepreneurship and create more jobs with the Trade department as its lead implementing agency.
Through the Otop, local chief executives of each city and municipality take the lead in identifying, developing and promoting a specific product or service.
The program is an adaptation of the One-Village, One-Product founded by the Oita Prefecture of Japan in 1979 "as a form of peoples' participation in the regional development of the country."
Ampatuan, who envisions the autonomous Muslim region to become the nation's center for halal production and processing, encouraged his constituents to embark on halal-related projects. (BSS)
