Ladies and gentlemen, magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.
[Acknowledgements]
Congratulations to our good friend DG Rowel Barba, as well as your team at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), on the launch of your digital transformation! Maganda ang inyong konsepto. Si DG talaga matagal ko nang kilala ‘at di po tayo magsisisi dahil napakasipag, napakabait nakikita naman po ninyo, napakagaling pa at maasahan at very honest, very generous.
The new mobile app is an innovative milestone for IPOPHL as it provides our people a digital model that makes “Doing Business in the Philippines” easier and safer with just one click, especially with the present COVID-19 pandemic we see the relevance of having everything digital. This app will not only promote a contact-free way, so marami ngayon ay no touch technology, this is one also, and no face-to-face. Contact-free way for Filipinos to register their IP assets at home or anywhere in the country, it will also increase IPOPHL’s accessibility while improving their delivery of service.
It’s very important that we are really embarking on this initiative. This is really one initiative not only an answer to the pandemic but really in the long term address the need to create more awareness on innovation, IPO registration, consciousness of many entrepreneurs about information technology (IT). I’m sure with this facilitation they will gain awareness in terms of IT. This has been, I would say, understated itong consciousness of IT. Nagiging important lang siya pagka siya ay nagagaya na at ‘pag lumaki na ‘yung company, at nasa huli ‘yung pagsisisi—kung kailan kailangan, kung kailan sikat na ‘yung brand. ‘Yung iba naman, the classic case of a big company na multinational pero inaapproximate ng isang SME, isang protection also. Si Mang Donald kilalang-kilala natin na pilit na sumusubok na agawin ang isang malaking brand. Kidding aside, really, the importance of IT must be emphasized sa ating Micro SMEs, and you know what, I always believed we’ve been pushing this for advocacy for entrepreneurship for more than 15 years, and we see the important role of innovation having an IT as part of innovation should really be emphasized.
Innovation is the core of entrepreneurship. Walang mabubuhay na mga negosyo at walang masu-sustain at tatagal na negosyo kung wala ‘yang innovation. And now we are learning sa pamamagitan po ng inyong mga campaigns and initiatives like these. We’re learning na hindi lamang innovation ang importante. Registering your innovation is very very important.
More importantly, this app will push for greater ease of doing business even as it accelerates automated and digital governance via GovTech.
Kami po nila DG Belgica ay magkasamang tumutulak sa Ease of Doing Business under the Anti-Red Tape Authority and Advisory Council. So many challenges, but our President is pushing for this Ease of Doing Business to the point na he’s been willing to remove the necessary permits para mas mapablilis na ‘yung ating process of development.
During the emergency nakwento po ni DG ‘yung effort po ng ating Presidente na lalong mapabilis ang transaksyon dito po sa ating bayan para maisulong ang patuloy na progreso na kailangang kailangan ng ating bansa, especially as we try to recover from this pandemic.
Sa amin po, sa Department of Trade and Industry, naabutan po ito ni former Usec. Rowel ito na in our business registration and in many other applications we have digitalized. It is our mandate po sa ating mga kasama sa DTI lahat ng application basta po ‘di magpapahirap sa ating mga kababayan, i-digitalize na natin ‘yan para talagang walang kahirap-hirap, walang pila. Anyway, ‘yung digitalization kasama na up to digital payment. ‘Yung ating business name registration thanks to the group of Usec. Boy, Asec. Jean at andun pa si Usec. Rowel noon na ma-digitalize natin itong business registration in eight minutes. Lahat po naka-experience na niyan, lahat ng nag-apply, eight minutes from registration to payment. Wala ng pila. Di ka na makikipagsiksikan. Walang issue sa physical distancing.
Dito po sa Ease of Doing Business (EODB) we’re doing a lot of efforts. Hopefully, ‘yung sinasabi natin na baka magkatotoo na sa tulong po ng DICT, we’ll be able to launch an end-to-end business name registration process from SEC up to BIR and all the different agencies in between. And that is what we’ve been really waiting for with the use of the mobile app, mobile technology ‘yun ang kailangan. ‘Yun ang sa amin ultimate Ease of Doing Business. You’re able to transact on the mobile application. Application, checking the status or finding out kung ayos na ba ‘yung ating registration. Sa IPOPHL, ‘yan po talaga ang magandang regalo ninyo sa sambayanang Pilipino—’yung pagpapadali po ng buhay ng ating mga kapwa Pilipino. At ‘yan po ang matagal na pangarap din ng ating Pangulong Duterte. Salamat sa IPOPHL, you’re making this really a reality for the President and for the Filipino people.
Under Republic Act (RA) No. 11032 or the EODB Act, DTI has been working with DG Jeremiah Belgica and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to improve ease of doing business. As chair of the Ease of Doing Business and Anti-Red Tape Advisory Council, DTI fully supports ARTA in fulfilling President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s promise to spare our people from the intolerable waiting time and long lines in government agencies.
The revitalized team of IPOPHL under DG Barba has also been creating innovative ripples through the establishment of long-term collaborations as part of a whole-of-government approach. One is the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between DTI and IPOPHL to empower Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by mainstreaming IP in DTI’s services in the regions and provinces, among other areas of cooperation.
In particular, IPOPHL will aid us in supporting MSMEs in Regions 5, 6, 7, and 8 through the application of their EINSTEIN Project, or “Engaging Innovation by Nurturing Significance of a Thousand Excellent Ideas in the North.” There will also be capacity-building between the Intellectual Property Field Operations Units (IPFOUs) and MSMEs in these regions, as well with other regions in the future.
IPOPHL is also working with DTI and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to ensure our Regional Inclusive Innovation Centers throughout the country will prioritize registered IPs in years to come. Likewise, clients of IPOPHL and DTI can expect a fully-automated digital platform with a refined customer-service team any time of the day by 2021. Although, with this mobilis I think this is happening already now, so congratulations to that.
In closing, IPOPHL’s efforts show how IPs can help give our country a “Rising, Shining, Beckoning” future, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. We laud IPOPHL for not letting the present pandemic undermine their determination to promote the use of IP for national development and progress. More importantly, we laud IPOPHL’s innovative efforts to create a “Better Normal” tomorrow amidst the “New Normal” today.
Maraming salamat po at mabuhay tayong lahat.♦
Date of Release: 22 October 2020