Isang magpagpala at mapagpalayang umaga sa inyong lahat!
Ikinigagalak kong maging bahagi ng DTI Family. Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon nagkakasama-sama tayo ngayon sa flag faising ceremony ng ating Departamento kaya hayaan ninyong samantalahin ko ang pagkakataong ito na magkakilala tayo. Naniniwala ako na kayo, ang ating mga opisyal at kawani, ang dahilan ng tagumpay ng DTI. Maaaring hindi ko man makausap ang bawat isa sa inyo sa pagkakataong ito pero magkakaroon din tayo ng marami pang pagkakataon sa mga darating na panahon para magkadiing palad.
Last Friday, July 1st, I began my term as the Secretary of the Trade and Industry in the new administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Many challenges lie ahead as we all know with the ongoing pandemic which continues to threaten the lives and livelihoods of many of our fellow Filipinos; the war in Ukraine that has resulted in the soaring prices of fuel and gasoline, increasing the cost of basic goods and necessities; and rising inflation, which causes further distress to our fellow consumers and struggling businesses.
But we in DTI must face these challenges with grit and optimism. I call our colleagues from DTI let us build on DTI’s past successes and ongoing programs, which you have initiated and implemented over the past months and years. I acknowledge and recognize your individual and collective contribution to these successes.
Going forward, I would like DTI to be an agile organization. I want us to have the agility and the readiness to organize teams, task forces, and small working groups as we respond to the country’s changing needs and priorities. Do commit to using your talents and skills fully in helping the Philippines achieve our shared aspirations in DTI.
More jobs, more sustainable business, more facilities for empowering our consumers, and more families being brought out of poverty. We all want to see a better future for our children and our grandchildren in this country we all love.
Together, let us forge immediate remedies for our people’s problems while working on long-term solutions for our national development challenges. We need open communications among us. We need to share information. We need to dismantle silos and breakdown walls to divide offices in our department and its attached agencies and GOCCs. That is the best way I believe we can harness the capabilities of our officials and staff in DTI to address problems that come our way.
I have initially met with some of our Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretaries and as I continue to be briefed by our officials in the coming weeks, I look forward to getting to know our Department furthermore, understanding practices have been effective and finding opportunities for improvement.
With my years of experience in leadership and service, be it in the academe, private sector, and international organizations, I bring in to the Department of Trade and Industry my fresh eyes and new perspectives, to complement the talents in this organization. Like you, I find meaning and purpose in public service.
Guided by the DTI values of Passion, Integrity, Creativity, Competence, Synergy, and Love of Country, the Department’s goal under my watch is to soar to greater heights with public service as our core. Over the next six years, I want our colleagues to become more empowered and engaged in their respective jobs. I urge you to step up and serve to the best of your abilities alongside with me.
In this new chapter, I encourage everyone to face what lies ahead with heads held up high, eyes in keen focus, and minds equipped with new ideas. With your dedication, I know we will further elevate DTI as we reignite the private sector, the engine of growth of our country, and pay particular attention to MSMEs the backbone of our country’s economy.
Run with me not in a 100-meter dash but in a sustained marathon of sorts, pacing a multi-kilometer country’s challenge to rejuvenate the heart of our Philippine commerce and strengthen the muscle of industry, coming from the devastation of the two-year pandemic and other uncertainties we now face. We will continue to help businesses do well, so they can make profits and become sustainable. We will encourage businesses to do good as well, so they can share the prosperity with our countrymen as all stakeholders. Now as we work together, let me say, we must succeed not because we have a reputation to protect but a country to serve.
Maraming Salamat sa inyong lahat, magandang umaga, padayon, DTI! ♦
Date of Release: 04 July 2022