Promoting the P3 enterprises
HONEST-TO-GOODNESS efforts are being extended by the Department of Trade and Industry to assist fledgling cooperatives and microfinance institutions which are conduits in the P3 loans to microenterprises.
P3 stands for Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso and like other financial assistance scheme concocted in the past, it should be properly monitored to assure its success and to ensure that the right beneficiaries are served.
I am aware that the aims and objectives of P3 are encompassing and therefore should be patronized by small businesses such as: sari sari store owners, small roadside eateries or carinderias catering to haulers and long distance truck drivers, ambulant vendors, small goods retailers, e loan retailers, eateries catering to construction sites, the fishball and barbecue stall owners and the single proprietor-owner operators of PUJs or taxis.
P3 envisions opting for change and progress. Several testimonies have been solicited from members around the country and they have manifested their good reviews of the program.
One such testimony came from Taytay sa Kauswagan Inc., based in Iloilo. It has been an active partner of the Small Business Corporation (SBC) and the Department of Trade and Industry since 2010 with a credit line of P60 million under the regular Microfinance Wholesale Program and accredited in 2017 under the P3 Program with an initial credit line of P60 million and eventually increased to P100 million. It services the poorest provinces in Region 8, Mindoro Occidental, Antique, Negros Oriental and Guimaras with more than 10,000 micro-end borrowers.
There is the Cebu People’s Multi-purpose cooperative which was started in 1972 and now has more than 30,000 members and with a capitalization of P279 million and 18 branches strategically located inside Cebu province ad 3 new branches outside Cebu like Kalibo, Aklan, Davao City and Quezon City.
In Mindanao, there is the BAUG CARP beneficiaries Multi-purpose Cooperative and in Luzon there are Kasapi Micro Finance and Rural Development, Inc., and Pinoy Lingap Damayan Multi-purpose Cooperative which all serve poor beneficiaries.
By the way, the Department of Trade and Industry recently opened its 1,000 Negosyo Center to assist new small and medium b u si n esses.
* * * Carmageddon on December 1. We (my family and I) attempted to watch the event (lantern of Hope) at SM City Pampanga last Saturday Decembe 1 but too much traffic, especially at the intersection of JASA going to the mall was horrendous and no amount of patience can bear the kilometric traffic at about 6:30 pm. The City of San Fernando duplicates EDSA in Metro Manila due to the volume of vehicles plying the streets and without nary a traffic enforcer manning the traffic.
But anyway, thanks to Kaye Chua, Aaron Montenegro and AVP Junias Eusebio of SM City Pampanga for the invite to the event.