DTI puts up 6 shares service facilities in Zambales

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has launched six shared service facilities (SSFs) worth P2.9 million in Zambales to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) there become more competitive.

In a statement, the DTI said it has provided the following SSFs: vegetable noodles processing facility in the municipality of Castillejos; sweet potato processing facility in the municipalities of San Felipe and Cabangan; pastillas processing facility in the municipality of Palauig, as well as Tetrapak bags production facilities in Olongapo City and Candelaria Town.

Depending on the line of business, the DTI said the SSFs may be equipped with packaging machines, mechanical driers, industrial weighing scales, noodle making machineries, vegetable and meat slicers, metal craft machineries, milk extraction equipment, deep fat friers, stainless industrial tables, chillers, and freezers.

DTI Central Luzon director Judith Angeles said the department has identified nine cooperatives in the province that would benefit from the six SSFs.

She said that while initially, the DTI intends to just lend the equipment, after five years, the plan is to give the SSFs to the cooperatives.

“This project is similar to the conditional cash transfer of the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development); ours is conditional equipment transfer,” she said.

She said SSFs would be donated to a cooperative based on the number of beneficiaries, jobs generated, amount of products sold and equipment generated.

The SSF program being implemented by the DTI seeks to provide MSMEs particularly those in the countryside, with machinery and equipment to help them become more productive and competitive.

For this year, the DTI has allocated P700 million for the SSF program.

Through the SSF, the DTI provides processing equipment housed in facilities of private sector partners.