Maraming salamat, President Jorge! Talagang nakikinig ako sa iyong opening remarks and it is really inspiring, isa ka sa mga nagbibigay ilaw sa ating mga kababayan at mga kasamahang micro SMEs. Mabuhay po kayo, President Jorge, ipagpatuloy ninyo ang inyong adbokasiya. Sa iba pang mga leaders ng AFFI na nandito sa forum, sa mga miyembro ng Board of Directors ng AFFI, si Mr. Patrick Tang of PLDT na isa sa mga partners ng Department of Trade and Industry at laging sumusuporta sa mga micro SMEs, magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat. Of course, nais ko rin pong batiin ng isang magandang umaga ang ating mga provincial at regional directors, good morning din sa inyong lahat. I can also see Dean Pax Lapid na isa sa mga masisipag na mentors natin at talagang naka alalay sa ating lahat.
To all the franchise owners, franchisers, at kung mayroong franchisees, exhibitors, at sa ating mga guests, a pleasant morning to everyone! I am so happy to be with the AFFI family, kahit po nasa DTI na ako ay nandiyan pa rin ang ating circle of friends and mentors dahil iisa po ang aming hangarin, to make the life of entrepreneurs a little better, make their businesses a little stronger—in terms of business models, operating systems, and continuous innovation, para po talagang tuluy-tuloy ang paglaki ng kanilang mga negosyo kahit po may pandemiya. The real challenges on the ground, iyong paghandle ng cash flow, kahit masinop tayo sa pera talagang nasusubukan. Malaking pagsubok itong nagdaan.
Ang atin pong magandang nakikita ngayon, sabi nga sa kwento ni Presidente Jorge ay kahit gaano kalakas ang ulan ay humihinto rin iyan at kahit gaano kalakas ang bagyo ay lumalagpas din iyan at pagkatapos ay may isang rainbow at araw na lalabas. Lalaban lang tayo. Dito sa webinar na ito, we definitely are for continuing education, we would like to always empower our entrepreneurs because knowledge is power. The valuable information that you will absorb dito sa mga gathering na ganito ay napakahalaga para lumakas ang inyong mga negosyo starting itong 2022. I must say that we are really for a good start.
Allow me first to answer the question that is in everyone’s mind “Is the franchising industry still a viable investment option at this stage of the pandemic?” the answer to that is an unequivocal yes. In fact, napakaganda ng mga business models ninyo, kaya franchising is really the way to grow.
In franchising, mas marami kayong natutulungan at nakita po ninyo sa pandemya, nakita din natin kung papano tayo nag-aadjust ng iba’t ibang mga business models. Iyong mga iba nag kiosk, iyong iba nag outdoor, iyong iba nag-iba ng produkto dahil mas madami na ang delivery. So many things happened and all of that, really, kung ang ina-adopt nating mindset ay continuous innovation ay talagang hindi tayo lulubog, tayo ay lalaban until we find the magic formula again.
Ang DTI po and the national government are focused in balancing the pandemic response balancing the need to protect lives at nakikita po natin iyan and at the same time, protecting livelihood, ang atin pong mga kababayan. The DTI has been very active in the IATF almost every week, like this afternoon again. Sa IATF, ang DTI ang boses ng mga negosyo mapalaki man iyan o maliit na negosyo. Sa atin po, importante ang negosyo at ang trabaho kaya kakampi natin parati si Secretary Silvestre Bello ng DOLE. Every time na mayroon po tayong pinu-push na proposal ay naka support agad si Secretary Bello. And then recently, ang NEDA, si Secretary Karl Chua and our economic team have also been our active partners.
Nakita po ninyo itong nangyayari sa IATF, wala na pong division ngayon, before ay may iba-ibang division, may isa na focused on health, iyong isa naman, kami ‘yun, we are focused on balancing livelihood. Magbukas tayo from [Enhanced Community Quarantine] ECQ gawing [Modified General Community Quarantine] MGCQ, gawing GCQ o kaya ngayon naging Alert Level 5,4,3,2,1 na. We always try to keep that balance but what we were able to change in protocol is that nahinto na natin iyong open-and-close, open-and-close, nasuportahan tayo ng IATF in terms of opening of businesses. We just had to adjust the operating capacity depende sa Alert Level system. Kaya pag Alert level 2, tulad ngayon ay 50% ang indoor at 75% naman ang outdoor. ‘Pag Alert Level 3, mababawasan ng konti iyon to 30% indoor and 50% outdoor. What we really established successfully ay wala na iyong open-close open-close para tuluy-tuloy iyong negosyo, tuluy-tuloy ang trabaho.
Nakita rin natin iyong mga adjustments recently na with the high vaccination rate at itong Omicron, thankfully even though kumalat siya ng mabilis, hindi lumala ang mga naging sakit niyan. Tumaas nang husto iyong cases per day pero ang severe and critical ay bumaba pa. Nabawasan rin iyong hospitalization rate, tumaas ng konti pero below 40% unlike noong Delta na nag-70% kaya naghanapan ng oxygen and all that. We did not see that dito sa Omicron nitong taon na ito. We are very thankful for that and at the same time we credit it to the high vaccination rate, because of that even in the IATF nagbabago tayo the way we do the lockdown. Sabi ko nga, pinush natin na wala nang malawakang wide area lockdown. Kaya imbis na nag Alert Level 4 tayo from Alert Level 3, when the numbers that are really going up, we argued na iyong severe and critical hindi naman lumalaki so huwag tayo mag Alert Level 4. Hindi napuno ang hospital, hindi rin nagkaipitan sa oxygen. True enough, from Alert Level 3 nag Alert Level 2 na tayo ngayon kasi bumaba na talaga ang mga cases. Wala na iyong wide area lockdown, iniiwasan iyan and in fact nag-move tayo sa granular lockdown pero beyond that hindi na granular, home lockdown o home isolation na. Ganoon na iyong mga changes ngayon.
Down the road, sinasabi rin namin na, at least this is my opinion, there would be less of IATF guidelines. Ibig sabihin nito ay pag napunta na tayo sa endemic, parang closer to common colds and flu, ay less na ang intervention ng government and it will be more self-regulating. Ang mga pamilya, sila na ang magsasabi na mag-ingat kayo diyan o sa crowded places ay mag mask pa rin kayo etc. We will set guidelines in terms of magsuot pa rin ng mask, iyong hugas, iwas, iyong Safety Seal, iyong magandang ventilation, and of course ang pagtulak sa bakuna and boosters para talagang this would be the “New Normal”. Less centralize the community quarantine and really more of self-regulation.
Self-regulation is the reason why we have been pushing for home testing, iyong antigen test. Bigay na iyong kit whether bigay ng government or ibenta sa drug stores. Ngayon ay nagsisimula nang mag accredit ang [Food and Drug Administration] FDA. Ganoon din iyong tinutulak natin ngayon pagdating sa mga antiviral medicines, iyong mga Paxlovid, Molnupiravir, Bexovid—iyong generic version. Kahit [emergency use authorization] EUA siya, we will make this available sa mga drug stores because iyong mga nagkakasakit wala na sa hospital, nasa bahay bahay na. We have to make the medicines really accessible, otherwise magkakaroon ng black market and that is our approach na para mawala ang black market, make it available like the medicines that we buy sa mga kilalang drug stores. That is the way to go moving forward.
Itong mga adjustments na ito basically signals that we are moving toward normalcy but we are not saying na tanggalin ang mask, sa ibang bansa they are doing it. We believe, based on health experts natin, na risky pa iyan. IATF has always been supported and advised by medical health experts and mga data scientists, mga gumagawa ng projection right from the start mula March 2020. This means even kapag lumuwag, hindi ibig sabihin nito ay we are very careless already. Nandiyan pa rin po ang ating mga pag-iingat. As you know, starting 1 February 2022 tinanggal na rin iyong quarantine sa mga cross border travels, sa mga overseas Filipinos and para sa mga nationals of non-visa countries, tatanggalin na rin iyong quarantine starting 10 February 2022. All of these will lead us to better normal and ang matutulungan dito ay ang hard-hit na tourism sector.
Kapag maraming sectors na ang nakapag-open at lahat umaandar na, ang atin pong na-aachieve na recovery growth sa GDP, we see na magtutuluy-tuloy iyong momentum. That’s the good news. Babalik ‘yung sector, babalik iyong trabaho doon, may income ulit and wider consumer base. Lalaki ulit ang mga customers ng inyong mga negosyo. Iyan po ang magandang development.
Nitong nakaraang taon ay lumabas ang official numbers na we even grew up to 7.7% for fourth quarter and that made the full year 5.6%. And we have been saying na kahit 5.5% lang iyong 2021 ay kailangan lang natin ng 4.8% growth this 2022 upang makabalik tayo sa 2019 GDP level. We believe itong 2022 hindi lang 4.8% ang ine-expect natin, we are expecting 6% to 7% growth rate of GDP at siguradong malalampasan na natin ang 2019 GDP level at makakabalik na at magrerecover na ang ating ekonomiya at kasama po kayo doon.
Isang pang sector na natulungan at malaki ang recovery and rebound ay iyong exports. Iyong growth niya pati iyong level niya they are even higher than the pre-pandemic level. Ganoon din naman ang ating foreign direct investments (FDI). As you know investments create jobs and income para sa ating mga kababayan. May virtuous cycle iyan, more income, mas sisigla ang negosyo ninyo, the more na makaka attract tayo ng mga investments. Ang Pilipinas naman po ay talagang pinupuntahan ng mga investors, the good news is tayo po ay rank four sa investment recipients ng mga FDIs among Southeast Asian countries.
Prior to the Duterte administration tayo po ay number six so talagang nag-improve ang ating kalagayan at sumipa ng malaki ang annual average FDI natin, ranging from USD 8-9 billion. Before 2016, it was about USD 3 billion, ganoon kalaki ang tinalon, halos times three. That’s the reason why our rank was greatly improved.
Good news po para sa inyo iyon dahil dadami at makaka-recover agad ang ating consumer at investment sector. There are many reasons to be hopeful dito sa country’s franchising industry para maging franchise hub of Asia tayo. Your industry, based on some numbers, you contribute about 7.2% of GDP which is equivalent to PHP 1.4-T and 2.7% of gross national income (GNI), which is equivalent to PHP 51-B. With the multiplier effect of franchising, about 90% success rate for start-ups—kaya kayo po ang pini-present namin sa mga gustong mag negosyo, There are now more than 120,000 enterprises created by the franchising industry. I am extremely grateful to the franchising sector where you belong.
Ang DTI po, through our various Philippine Trade and Investment Centers (PTIC) worldwide, we have about 30 commercial attachés in 25 countries. Kami po we can promote your brand if you want to go global. If you are ready and you have the system, puwede kayong mag-global. It is part of our push for Filipino brands hindi lang in terms of products, hindi lang mga local products ng SMEs ang ini-export kung hindi franchise businesses like yours. You can export your brand. You can just talk to Regional Director Malou, our PTIC group, ito iyong mga commercial counsellors. They will help you in those markets as long as your system is ready. In those markets or countries, we also do iyong mga ginagawa natin dito na Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan seminars. Ang ating mga commercial attachés nag-widen ang kanilang trabaho o mandates dati kasi export promotion, investment promotion lamang, ngayon Philippine brand promotion na. Ang mandate ko po sa kanila is to make sure that Philippine brands ay maging mainstream. Ibig sabihin hindi lang sa oriental stores ang mga Philippine brands, dapat ito ay nasa mainstream market rin, nasa malls, supermarkets, etc. With the franchise system, mainstream din dapat iyan, iyong mga brands ninyo.
Again, I highly encourage those of you who are interested in the franchising business to go ahead and take advantage of the benefits of having the support of a big business network like the AFFI. Ang mga brands na malalaki na matutulungan kayo, may training, mentoring, may established brand na proven, management and work procedures.
Ang bilin, po tulad ng sabi ng ating Pangulo Rodrigo Roa Duterte sa kanyang New year’s message, itong 2022 will give us Filipinos a fresh start and an opportunity to aim higher and do things better. Greater things are in store for us in 2022 and let us work together as we build back better toward a new and better normal.
Congratulations once again to the leadership and directors of AFFI especially to Mr. Jorge Wieneke, Ms. Jen Wieneke na parating nagsu-suporta po sa inyo, as well as to the franchisors and exhibitors in this Virtual Expo.
Maraming salamat po at mabuhay tayong lahat. God bless and stay safe. ♦
Date of Release: 3 February 2022