The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is putting up more One Town One Product (OTOP) hubs in Eastern Visayas this year with a higher budget intended for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region.

DTI Eastern Visayas Regional Director Celerina Bato said OTP hubs will rise in Calbayog City, Samar; Catarman, Northern Samar; Maasin City, Southern Leyte; and Borongan City, Eastern Samar.

“The higher budget under OTOP Next Generation this year will allow us to open more OTOP hubs in addition to what has been operating in Tacloban City, Ormoc City, and Baybay City in Leyte; and Catbalogan City in Samar,” Bato told the Philippine News Agency in an interview Friday.

Eastern Visayas got the highest OTOP Next Gen fund this year at PHP14.3 million to support small businesses in the region.

OTOP is a priority stimulus program of the DTI for MSMEs in different regions of the country.

This aims to promote products and services unique to the culture, community resources and competitive advantage of a locality. Products and services offered in OTOP hubs are those that localities are best known for.

OTOP Next Gen is one of the two components of the DTI’s program, supporting the supply side of the program.

The DTI said OTOP Next Gen provides a package of assistance to capacitate MSMEs which includes product development initiatives, training, referral and other initiatives to help them improve their products in terms of design, quality and volume, among others.

The other component is the OTOP.PH (Philippines Hub), which supports the supply side of the program. This includes providing physical and online channels and market access platforms for OTOP products. (PNA)