TRADE Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the e-commerce platform that was supposed to be launched by end of 2022 will have to wait for “at least a quarter” as the approach will be “reformulated.”
Pascual told reporters last Wednesday that had the government stuck to the “original design,” the e-commerce platform would have been implemented earlier. He said the delay in the launch can be pointed to the “evolution” of players.
Pascual said the trade department “might have to go a different way of proposing it” with their original partner from the private sector. The trade chief said on the sidelines of the launch of a program by the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) that initially, the government had two partners from the private sector.
With this, Pascual said, “now, we need at least a quarter to really reformulate the approach… because I also want this [platform] to be the basis for e-catalog purchases for government. But that will come in later.”
The Trade chief added “it might require a law to mandate government offices to buy, mandatorily, not just giving margin of preference.”
“If a product is available locally from local producers, mandatory dapat na doon kukunin. [It should be sourced locally if local producers make it available.] We don’t want a situation where Filipino companies are subjected to competition in an uneven playing field,” Pascual said.
Last December, Pascual said the e-commerce platform, which the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is creating with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), was set for a definite launch before year-end.
The said platform aims to help create a national market for micro-sized, small-scale and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs).
Despite the delay, Pascual said the e-commerce platform is still an “active project” because it has more purposes than just the commercial use, which he said is to provide an ecommerce platform to Philippine consumers.
‘Initiation phase’
PASCUAL emphasized that the said platform will serve as an “initiation phase” of getting the small merchants to eventually compete in the global arena.
“But additionally, aside from that purpose, I’m also looking at it as a system by which we can make known nationally what’s really available in the Philippines. Because the moment that we initiate or we put into the global platforms directly the Philippine MSMEs, then their products will get eclipsed, drowned by the many more products that are coming in from the different countries in the world,” said Pascual.
The DTI chief also cited the current influx of products from foreign countries through the existing e-commerce platforms,which majority of Filipinos are using. He said patronizing these products outnumber the products being offered by local businesses.
Pascual said there are many products coming from foreign countries and more than what are available from Philippine companies.
“So I’m thinking that the platform we will set up as a way by which Filipinos can really see and focus on what’s available from Philippine enterprises across different regions.”
The Trade chief, in December, said the entire process—which includes onboarding, training and “linking” them up to the e-commerce platform—can be likened to that of a supermarket. Pascual envisions that the platform will feature an “e-catalog” of Philippine products.