24 May 2005
Philippines Taste a lot of the Philippine tuna turned into varieties of flakes, sausage, chorizo, embutido chicharon, hotdog, ham, patties, steak, loins, meatball, spicy hamonado, and nuggets with cheese in the coming years.
This is because the Tuna-Value Added Products (TVAP) was recently identified as the primary product of the Philippine National Government under the program One-Town-One-Product (OTOP) launched last month.
"The OTOP is a nationwide program coined by President Arroyo for poverty alleviation that supports countrywide growth of our local and small medium enterprises to spur economic activity in each province as they identify a primary product to support it," DTI-Sarangani/General Santos head Nenita Barroso said.
OTOP is a converged effort of seven Philippine government departments namely Trade and Industry, Environment and Natural Resources, Interior and Local Government, Land Reform, Science and Technology, Tourism, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The government is confident the program will lead to creation of jobs.
Tuna Canners Association president Mariano Fernandez also commended the OTOP, saying that this will lead to increase job opportunities.
He is hopeful that this partnership with the government would also help resolve issues on tariff and foreign policies.
By the end of the year, OTOP seeks to accomplish database development, product/market development, productivity and quality enhancement, and technology improvement of TVAP so that they can increase its exports by 10 percent annually until year 2007.
