TABUK CITY, Kalinga— The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has opened the second One Town One Product (OTOP) hub as a venue for the marketing of products from micro and small manufacturers, an official announced on Monday.
“Kalinga is the second to launch its very own OTOP hub in the region after Baguio,” DTI-CAR Assistant Regional Director Grace Baluyan said in an interview.
She also said the Cordillera is one of the first regions in the country to have more than one OTOP hub, the first having been established in Baguio.
She said OTOP is the DTI’s priority program for the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which account for more than 99 percent all business establishments in the Philippines.
In Kalinga, products of local MSMEs include food products such as coffee, fruit and rice wine, chilli paste, chilli vinegar, local varieties of indigenous rice, chips made from vegetables, and handicracfts such as handwoven items clothes and garments, bags, decorations, among others.
The OTOP hubs were established as a marketing venue for MSME products which have passed quality standards.
“It is the government’s way of assisting in the promotion and marketing of the products,” Baluyan said.
Meanwhile, DTI-CAR Regional Director Myrna Pablo said the OTOP hub serves as incubation and market-testing facility for new products and product innovations for local MSMEs.
“Our LGUs play a major role in encouraging businesses to locate and continue locating in their territories,” Pablo said, adding that “it must be the LGU’s (local government units) business therefore to make sure their territories are sustainable investment destinations.”
The Kalinga OTOP hub is located at the compound of Golden Berries Hotel in Barangay Bulanao.
Grace Agtina, owner of the Golden Berries Hotel, asked the help of the local government to sustain the center by continuously providing products for marketing and sale to the general public.
She said she hopes see other Kalinga products in the hub, as her contribution to the promotion of Kalinga culture and heritage.
She said they do not only want to sell the products but also let customers learn more of Kalinga’s culture through the products sold at the hub.
The Kalinga OTOP hub was launched on February 7 with President Rodrigo Duterte’s partner, Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña as guest.
