DTI AWARDS GOLD BAGWIS SEAL TO TOYOTA TAGUM

In recognition of the institution as a responsible business establishment, DTI Davao del Norte Officer in Charge Romeo L. Castañaga presented Toyota Tagum with a Gold Bagwis Seal for Excellence Award in a ceremony last February 13, 2015. DTI Davao del Norte OIC Romeo L. Castañaga hands Gold Bagwis plaque to Ms. Mary Ann Saman, Service Manager of Toyota Tagum. Mr. Castañaga said Gold Bagwis Award is given to Toyota Tagum for excellence shown in compliance to fair trade laws, corporate social responsibility undertaking, and alignment to ISO 9001 standards.    DTI’s Bagwis Seal for Excellence Awards are given to business establishments that promote consumer welfare and uphold fair trade practices. This will give assurance and guidance to consumers on purchasing quality products and services thus getting the best out of their hard earned money. Formerly known as DTI – Certified Establishment, the award has three categories: gold, silver and bronze.  Various parameters are used to evaluate the establishment’s qualification for each specific category. For bronze, compliance with fair trade laws such as consumer act, consumer welfare desk, price act and price tag law are measured. Silver seal recipients are in additional required corporate social responsibilities such as sound purchasing policy and participation to government programs among others. Apart from the above-mentioned criteria, Gold Bagwis awardees must meet the additional requirement of compliance to ISO 9001/Quality Management System. This award is designed to promote and foster the highest level of business ethics and uphold a fair and honest marketplace through voluntary self-regulation and service excellence. The Bagwis seal also symbolizes commitment to nurture, guide, and protect both the consumers and the establishments from unfair trade practices. DTI continues to encourage business establishments to be accredited with Bagwis seal of excellence. DTI Davao del Norte has already awarded a total of 31 Bagwis Seal to various business firms in the province since 2007. This consists of 4 bronze, 21 silver awards and the rest are gold. OIC Romeo L. Castañaga (first row, 7th from left) and Trade & Industry Devt. Specialist Delvin Santos (first row, 8th from left) of DTI Davao del Norte together with Toyota Tagum personnel.

Toyota Tagum is also an accredited five star service and repair shop.

DAVAO DEL NORTE INVESTMENTS AND INCENTIVES BOARD (DdNIIB) HITS THE TRAIL

Members of the Davao del Norte Investments and Incentives Board chaired by Governor Rodolfo P. Del Rosario (3^rd from right, first row).

The Davao del Norte Investments and Incentives Board (DdNIIB) had its first Meeting last February 11, 2015 at the Office of the Provincial Governor, to finalize the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Davao del Norte Investments and Incentives Code. Composed of representatives from the Public and Private sectors and Chaired by the Honorable Governor Rodolfo P. Del Rosario, the Board approved the IRR and other documents necessary for the implementation of the Code.

The approval of the said IRR and other documents signals the readiness of the Board to hit the trail towards providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to qualified enterprises and working on other investments-related activities such as promotion and policy recommendation.

In his message to the members of the Board, Governor Del Rosario emphasized the role of the approved Local Investments and Incentives Code (LIIC) in generating investment, employment and revenue of the province.  “The Local Investments and Incentives Code of the province will serve as the  policy support to the regional economic development and the Asean Economic Cooperation (AEC) Integration. It is expected that with the approved Code, more inflow of foreign and local investments will be generated.”, del Rosario said.

Members of the Board coming from the private sector are the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Tagum City and Panabo City, Provincial Agriculture and Fishery Council, and Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

By: Gelyn S. Llana, Investment Promotion Officer - DTI Davao del Norte

Capability building for DavNor jewelers initiated

A series of capability building activities were conducted for the jewelers and goldsmiths of Davao del Norte from January 26 – February 6, 2015. The activities were facilitated by Ms. Marieke Bekker, a senior expert from PUM Netherlands through the initiative of DTI and in partnership with DOST. Marieke Bekker, a senior expert from PUM Netherlands teaches a jeweler from Davao del Norte how to trace designs that will serve as basis for the jewelry wax model during the Delft Clay Casting Workshop conducted on Feb. 3, 2015. The series of activities kicked off with a consultation between Ms. Bekker and the jewelry shop owners and goldsmiths from Tagum and Panabo. During the said consultation, participants were introduced to the jewelry expert from PUM Netherlands. They were also assessed on the skills they need that can be provided by the PUM senior expert. This twin hearts design is one of the jewelry wax models DavNor jewelers were able to make during the hands-on training on Wax Jewelry Modelling. After the consultation and the initial assessment, a series of jewelry designing and processing workshops were conducted. This includes the Delft Clay Casting Workshop held last February 3, 2015 at DTI-Davao del Norte. This workshop provided the jewelers with hands-on training on creating wax models to be used for jewelry casting which is a technology long used by jewelers around the world. Majority of those present claimed that they haven’t heard of the technique before. Another workshop is the Technical Information on Jewelry Processing and General Design conducted in TCNTS on February 5, 2015 where jewelers from Monkayo also participated. Participants of the Technical Information on Jewelry Processing and General Design Workshop get to design their own jewelry during the hands-on activity. To assess the real situation of the jewelry sector, Bekker also conducted an on-site visit of the jewelry shops in Tagum. She was able to visit six workshops around the city. Her initial assessment was that the province clearly has the potential for jewelry making since Davao del Norte and its neighboring provinces such as Compostela Valley has vast amount of gold deposits. “If you didn’t have the resources, I’d advise you to just forget about it (jewelry making). However, you have the gold so that makes you very suitable for this industry. You cannot avoid it. People here will always work with gold since your area is surrounded with it.” Bekker said in an interview with Romeo L. Castañaga, Officer in Charge of DTI-Davao del Norte.

She also noticed the lack of standards being implemented for jewelry making citing as an example the different methods used by pawnshops and jewelers in determining the amount of gold a jewelry contains. She explained that a jeweler might declare a jewelry he/she made as 24K but pawnshops would only value it at 18K which could cause confusion and dissatisfaction on the part of the customer. She also observed that miners would bring raw gold to the jewelry shops for refinement but sells the refined gold to be made as jewelry elsewhere then buy the finished jewelry at a much higher price.

Marieke Bekker, a jewelry expert from PUM Netherlands during the Jewelry Design Workshop held in Tagum City National Trade School. She is currently based in Holland and had experience working for big names in the jewelry industry such as Tiffany & Co. in New York. Also seeing the industry’s potential, Tagum City National Trade School will also be offering a 3D Jewelry Design course in summer this year. This is part of the effort to upgrade the province’s jewelry making technology to be at par with world standards in the near future. It will also enable graduates to easily find employment as jewelry designers here and abroad. As an offshoot to these activities, the DavNor Jewelers Association was formed and elected its first set of officers last February 5.

Philippines secured GSP+ accreditation

Good News for Filipino exporters!

The European Union (EU) has given its go signal to the Philippines’ application to qualify for its General System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) scheme during a plenary meeting held in Brussels, Belgium last December 18, 2014.

By being qualified for the GSP+ scheme, the Philippines can now enjoy zero duty for 6,274 products entering the EU market. The approval, which took effect in 25 December 2014, is good for a period of 10 years.

Earlier, the country was a beneficiary of the regular GSP program which covers 6,209 products, with 2,442 products subject to zero duty and the rest slapped with lower tariffs.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said the GSP+ would allow the country to increase its exports to the EU
by EUR 611.8M and create more than 200,000 new jobs in the first three years of implementation of the program. “We believe the EU GSP+ is really a game changer. It will strengthen our rehabilitation efforts and inclusive growth agenda,” Domingo added.

He said the approved application boosts the country’s goal to become a manufacturing base in Southeast Asia as it is the only country in the
region granted the GSP+ status.

Source: DTI, Dataline Vol 20 No.1