August 10, 2020, as delivered by Assistant Secretary Mary Jean Pacheco
Isang magandang hapon po to all our viewers, esteemed panelists and organizers. First of all, I would like to acknowledge: Mr. Tiago Arnaiz, BusinessWorld Digital Platform Editor, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon; Hon. Richard Gomez, Ormoc City Mayor; Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua, ULAP President, USAID E-PESO Project Chief of Party, Mert Tangonan; Go Negosyo Senior Adviser of Angat Lahat sa Digital Alliance, Jopin Romero; PayMaya Enterprise Head for Public Sector, Marvin Santos.
Maraming salamat po sa the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) who are also PayMaya, USAID E-Peso and ULAP’s (Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines) partners in making this event possible.
I. Setting the Tone
Allow me at the onset to recognize the DTI’s partnership with PayMaya. Last year (in September 2019), DTI signed a MOU with PayMaya for our business name registration system. That partnership was significant because I understand the DTI was one of the first, if not the first, to make available various payment options online – for our citizens, whether through Landbank, G-Cash and Paymaya. Our partnership with Paymaya allowed citizens to use their credit card, have access to SMART padala centers, and their mobile wallets. Now, PayMaya is an accepted payment method for DTI IRegis/DTIPay for all the other DTI services.
Since then, we have worked with Paymaya on other DTI initiatives to promote ecommerce, which I must share with you today.
The theme of this Online Forum Series is “Creating Digital Ecosystems to Jumpstart Local Economies”. This theme is indeed very timely as “online is the new normal”. COVID19 has accelerated the adoption of ecommerce in the country.
Consider this report from the Business Name Registration System (BNR): from JanuaryMarch 15, prior to the period of Community Quarantine, the number of BN registered pertinent to internet retail was 1,753. In May, this rose to 9,692 (450%), registration peaked in June with over 33K business names registered for that month alone. As of yesterday’s count, to date we have over 68K business names registered under retail sale via the internet. We look at this as a barometer of the growing interest on eCommerce, and with this, a concomitant need for government, to continue and scale up ecommerce interventions.
II. Call to Action
During the State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President mentioned the welcome developments for the ecommerce industry, while noting the need for government to address risks related to security, data privacy and misrepresentation—those that undermine the people’s trust in online transactions. The President was clear in his commitment to “protect both the physical and digital lives of our law-abiding countrymen”
The President also declared that the national government shall lead the way in our transition to online systems, reiterating his call for all government instrumentalities to implement systems that shall make physical queuing a thing of the past.
That the President in his SONA mentioned the need to build trust and confidence in online transactions, is an affirmation of our work in DTI, together in partnership with the private sector, and other government agencies, including the legislature.
III. BASTA E-COMMERCE, MADALI!
As you begin your discussion on Creating Digital Ecosystems to Jumpstart local economies, I hope you will support our goal towards a more robust ecommerce in the Philippines. Let me enjoin all our local government officials to support the Ecommerce Roadmap and be guided by our strategic framework.
We coined the tagline: BASTA ECOMMERCE, MADALI!. [Market Access. Digitalization. Logistics Integration]. The tagline carries a double meaning, one addressed to our stakeholders, both consumers and businesses alike. We advise MSMEs on the benefits of Ecommerce. Wider Reach. Lower Cost. And Easy.
LOCATION: One main feature of E-Commerce is borderless. Buy and Sell anytime, anywhere, generate revenue 24/7.
LOWER COSTS: The costs of offline stores outweigh online stores tenfold. There are no maintenance, miscellaneous and rental costs online.
EASY – Starting your online business is very simple. We have heard many success stories of entrepreneurs placing their products on social media platforms as a start and eventually, expansion is inevitable. For consumers, buying online is faster, easier, not to mention, ecommerce provides more choices.
The tagline BASTA ECOMMERCE MADALI, also stands for MARKET ACCESS. DIGITALIZATION, LOGISTICS INTEGRATION
On Market Access The opportunity for Philippines businesses is huge. We are mindful of the following statistics:
• the Philippines total retail is valued at $63B, while ecommerce accounts for less than 4% (3.78%) valued at $ 2.4B. According to a google study, ecommerce (internet retail) will rise from 7B in 2019 to $25 in 2025
• Globally, there is reported USD3.4 Trillion global ecommerce sales, and 4.57 Billion people who are active in the internet.
• There are over 120M mobile subscribers in our country, the Philippines is the highest internet user in the world, yet, only 10% spend online.
Digitalization of MSMEs is primordial. We must prepare our entrepreneurs to adopt to these new business models. Our Reboot Package, particularly its training component which we have called CTRL+BIZ: REBOOT NOW! has been highly successful as we initiated information sharing to encourage MSMEs to venture their businesses online.
The goal is to increase MSME’s understanding on E-Commerce and introduce them to enablers and platforms that will expand their marketing channels from traditional brick and mortar stores into digital/online market players.
Logistics Integration – we must reduce logistics cost and improve efficiency. This is integral to a successful ecommerce.
The updated roadmap shall introduce reforms along a simple strategic framework that rests on three major elements: SECURITY, SPEED, AND STRUCTURE, RESULTING TO SALES.
IV. Closing
As I was going through the Speaker Session Guide, a phrase caught my attention. It says, “As we adapt to the BETTER NORMAL”. And this is exactly what we are working on. Not only do we want to survive the new normal, our MSMEs and the rest of the Filipinos need to thrive in this better normal.
The DTI appreciates opportunities like this, as we are here not only to speak, but also to listen. And learn. We wish to be responsive hence we take your feedback very seriously as well.
So always remember, BASTA ECOMMERCE MADALI. Market Access through
Digitalization and Logistics Integration.
I wish the organizers a big congratulations and Mabuhay po tayong lahat.