THE government is now looking at the possibility of creating a certifying body to be composed of accredited franchise owners to screen their ranks of bogus franchisers.

The creation of the new body emerged during Thursday’s discussion among the franchisers, Ferdinand L. Manfoste, officer in charge of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) National Capital Region, and Sen. Koko Pimentel at the start of the three-day 3rd SME and Franchise Expo at the PICC in Pasay City.

“There should be a seal or certification that the business is actually operating, legitimate, successful and is ripe for franchising.  A business can be successful in one place but it may not still be ripe for franchising. The DTI can assign the franchising associations, and I believe there are two of them, as the certifying bodies,” Pimentel said at the forum.

He said the designation of the franchise associations as the certifying bodies can be done through administrative orders. If such move disallowed, Pimentel said he will go for for the amendment of the DTI Charter. “We can already do something short of enacting a law, unless, of course, if the law is deficient,” he said.

Manfoste said they continue to receive numerous complaints on bogus franchisers, particularly against those who are using another company’s brand or trademark.

He agreed that one way to approach the problem is to make the franchise associations the certifying bodies as a form of self-regulation.

The country currently has two major industry groups—the Association Filipino Franchisers Inc. and the Philippine Franchise Association.

“Through consultations with the industry, we can come up with the mechanisms to determine which companies can franchise, then we will sign a memorandum of agreement  [MOA] with them,” Manfoste told the BusinessMirror.

The MOA will identify the duties and functions of the industry groups, DTI and other concerned agencies.

The DTI, Manfoste said, will then issue a department administrative order (DAO) with the MOA attached to it. The DAO will make the MOA official and implementable.

Butch Bartolome, considered the Philippine franchising guru and owner of GMB Franchise Developers, said he will gather the concerns and suggestions of the different franchisers and collate them into one paper that will take the form of the industry “wish list.”

“We will combine all the inputs and give them to the DTI and lawmakers as a wish list,” Bartolome said.

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In Photo: Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (second from left) leads the ringing of the bells signaling the opening of the Philippine SME and Franchise Expo at the PICC in Pasay City on Thursday. With him are (from left) Ricardo Cuna, president and chief executive officer of Milkin Corp.; Franchise guru Armando Bartolome; Director Ferdinand Manfoste of DTI-NCR; and Mildred Caballero, president and managing director of Franchise Expo.  (By Roy Domingo)