Around 37,000 businesses operating on an online-based platform have already registered under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Assistant Secretary Jean Pacheco made the announcement during the National MSME Week e-forum. She added that the number surged from more than 16,000 online businesses that registered under the Department in 2019.
“That means to say that people are looking at e-commerce and that also means DTI needs to help a lot this particular MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises),” the DTI official said.
The DTI promotes business registration, especially for small-scale businesses, so they can easily access much-needed government support in challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Among the government programs supporting micro and small enterprises (MSEs) is the COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) program. Under the program, MSEs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can avail of loan assistance from P10,000 TO P500,000 to help them sustain their operations and continuously pay their employees.
According to DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, there are 23,477 MSEs who availed of the loan under the program, with aggregate borrowings which amounts to P3.38 billion.
Approved applications have already reached 3,711 with loans amounting to P253.5 million.
Thriving during the ECQ
Though a lot of businesses shut down operations as a result of the government’s implementation of lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease, those which are internet-based or migrated their operations online were able to survive. Filipinos who lost their jobs due to the community quarantine restrictions found a source of income after establishing online shops or internet-based business.
With the increase in the number of online enterprises, the Bureau of Internal Revenue issued a memorandum that requires owners of online businesses to register.
The said memorandum encourages all businesses, including those which are earning less than P250,000 annually and are not required to pay taxes, to register.
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