Marawi ‘ecozone’ to be center for MSMEs

THE planned community-based economic zone to be established in Marawi City is envisioned to be a center for marketing, technical training, and food processing ventures for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to help residents of the war-torn area get back on their feet, according to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

Dominguez said the government can help residents set up kilns and foundries that they can rent at low rates to help them manufacture goods and provide them training from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) or the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) using modern applications and technologies.

“We’re not talking of an ecozone that is taxfree. It’s not like that. It's just providing the structure so that they can actually practice their trade in a modern and organized way,” Dominguez said.

Besides livelihood training, Dominguez said the residents at the ecozone will be given advice on marketing their goods both traditionally and utilizing digital technology. They will also be provided with free Internet service so that they can engage in online selling.

“The [ecozone] can be run by the local governMANILA ment. So we’ll just provide the place where there’s also training and there’s advice on marketing. In fact, I'm going to suggest that they can even do food processing there,” Dominguez said.

The finance chief said the ecozone could start from a 10-hectare area in the city with kilns, small foundries, warehouses, and other facilities needed for manufacturing that people can share and rent at affordable rates.

Dominguez said if the plan for the Marawi ecozone goes well, it could be the start of a bigger plan to have large companies provide technology to MSMEs in the city, similar to the setup in Japan where car parks are built by small companies with the aid of bigger firms.

This big brother setup, Dominguez said, could be a model for other local government units to follow in the future so that they can set up manufacturing hubs complete with facilities and warehouses for small businesses in their respective communities.

“That can be the start of that—where you have a big company that is providing technology in the market for small companies to process. So it can develop into that. And the government's role will be to provide the land, the buildings, the water and the electricity,” Dominguez said.