THE Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) Central Luzon awarded a total of nine micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as winners for the 2021 Regional Productivity Olympics during the regional awarding ceremony on July 27, 2021 in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga.

Among the regional awardees are Min’s Miraculous Mushroom (Bulacan), Green Thumb Agri Products (Zambales), and GrainPro Phils. Inc. (Zambales) for the agribusiness sector.

For the service sector, the winning MSMEs are Ala Carte Restaurant and Food-to-Go (Bataan), Boba Time Food Corner (Zambales), Toyota Plaridel (Bulacan), Bleue R Enterprises (Aurora), Sto. Nino De Parada Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Bulacan), and Don Bosco Technical Institute of Tarlac (Tarlac).

DOLE Regional Director Geraldine Panlilio, RTWPB-Central Luzon chairperson, who was also present during the awarding, commended all winners and other contenders in the 2021 Regional Productivity Olympics.

“Our regional winners will, of course, represent Central Luzon in the national productivity olympics competition which will be held in October this year. We hope that most, if not all, of our awardees would qualify for and win the national awards which seek to recognize and benchmark MSMEs that have demonstrated resilience, preserved employment and implemented excellent employee engagement programs amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” Panlilio said during the regional screening of participating MSMEs.

Winners were determined by the regional screening committee composed of Panlilio as Chairperson, DTI Regional Director Leonila Baluyot, Neda Regional Director Gina Gacusan, Edgar Ventura and Raul Remodo representing the labor sector, and Flordeliza Maria Reyes-Rayel and Marco Nepomuceno representing the employer sector.

Eufemia Ayro, president of Central Luzon Association of Labor Management Cooperation Practicioners, was also invited to be part of the screening committee.

Productivity Olympics is a biennial competition of best productivity improvement practices of MSMEs organized by the National Wages and Productivity Commission and Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards across the country.

“With the theme 'Bounce Back Better,' this year’s regional competition recognizes the most resilient and productive MSMEs in the region amid the pandemic. We looked into their business continuity plans and strategies, employee engagement programs including compliance with health and safety protocols, employment preservation in terms of hiring and termination of employment, and more as criteria for judging,” said Jerome Yanson, head of RTWPB Central Luzon secretariat.

Regional and national winners all receive cash awards and priority endorsement to DTI and DOLE training programs. (PR)