■ DTI 7 TO LAUNCH KAPATID MENTOR ME PROGRAM IN 3 VISAYAN PROVINCES

The Kapatid Mentor Me (KMM) program will be replicated in Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor in July to produce small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in the countryside. The program will be implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7, in partnership with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry. DTI 7 Director Ma. Elena Arbon said the three provinces will make use of the Cebu KMM module, which was launched last year. The KMM program aims to help SMEs scale up their businesses through weekly coaching and mentoring by business owners and practitioners on the different functional areas of entrepreneurship to be held in Negosyo Centers nationwide.

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Rosalia de Leon as the new national treasurer, replacing Roberto Tan, who has been named as the new president of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC). The two officials took their oath of office before Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III. Before taking her oath of office as the new national treasurer, de Leon served as alternate executive director for the same World Bank group previously led by Tan. She had previously held the post of national treasurer from 2013 to 2015. Tan, who was the national treasurer since 2015, also served in the same Bureau of Treasury (BTr) post from 2008 to 2012 before assuming the position of executive director at the World Bank in Washington D.C. He started at the finance department’s International Finance Group (IFG) in 1991, and was later named assistant secretary in 1999. He was appointed national treasurer in 2008.