DOLE Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma called on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country to aim for “collective” progress rather than individual progress, emphasizing the importance of working together to improve productivity in the country.

He made this remark during the awarding ceremony of the 2023 Productivity Olympics, a biennial competition organized by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) and the 16 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) that aims to promote productivity improvement among MSMEs in the agribusiness, service, and industry sectors. This event took place on October 19, 2023, in Ortigas, Quezon City.

Secretary Laguesma, who also sits as NWPC Chairperson, congratulated Productivity Olympics winners and thanked them for participating in the department’s advocacy.

“Let me congratulate all the enterprises and their employees and workers – from the regional winners to the national finalists – that participated in this year’s competition. It is encouraging that more and more enterprises are participating in the Olympics, from 140 regional winners in 2021 to 152 enterprises endorsed to national screening this 2023,” he said.

According to Secretary Laguesma, both regional and national winners carried with them what he described as a “badge of honor” for striving for survival, recovery, and resilience amid adversities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is the same badge carried by our past winners [who] were able to pull through from the same adversities. All of you truly embody this year’s theme, ‘From Striving to Thriving: Reset and Reposition for Impact’,” he said.

However, rather than aspiring for individual success, he urged winners to make productivity improvement a “collective mindset” that would benefit the nation.

“Improving productivity should be a collective mindset and a shared responsibility that we should set from the national level down to enterprises by instilling the belief that one can do things better today than yesterday and tomorrow better than today. Such will bring to fruition our tagline in NWPC, “Kapag produktibo, aasenso,” Secretary Laguesma said.

“Ultimately, this will be part of our guide toward our collective aspiration “Produktibong Pilipino, Progresibong Pilipinas” and to realize our national vision of “Bagong Pilipinas kung saan may Matatag, Maginhawa, at Panatag na Buhay para sa bawat Pilipino,” he added.

Secretary Laguesma also expressed hope that the winners’ success stories and best practices on productivity improvement and gainsharing will continue to inspire other enterprises so that the country’s productivity advocacy will become “wider, more diverse and more vibrant.”

Equally important function

Secretary Laguesma emphasized the need to heighten awareness of NWPC and RTWPB’s “less publicized” but “equally important” function of helping raise enterprise and labor productivity.

He said that while the NWPC and RTWPBs are commonly known to the public for their regulatory function, its productivity improvement function is just as important because it is at the front and center of the Marcos administration’s national development policy.

“Productivity improvement is one of our flagship advocacy programs because it creates a virtuous cycle that expands, so to speak, the size of the pie for everyone to share. Better productivity levels improve profit for businesses, which allows them to expand their portfolio, resulting in employment generation; translate to higher wages and better working conditions for workers, resulting in industrial peace; and can result in higher tax revenues for the government, contributing to a larger fiscal space for better social services and poverty alleviation programs,” he said.

He said that while minimum wage adjustments are periodic actions that are meant to promote equity and social balance, productivity programs represent efforts to help enterprises and workers improve their day-to-day ability and capacity to produce goods and services, thereby positioning themselves to realize more profits, expand and grow, and raise incomes.

National and regional networks

As part of efforts to enhance the DOLE and NWPC’s existing programs, Secretary Laguesma said the department plans to organize national and regional networks that will serve as platforms for sharing expertise and knowledge, continuous capacity building, mentoring, and adaptation.

“We acknowledge that we in government are neither the best teachers, trainers or sources of entrepreneurial experience, wisdom and insight. We may facilitate but you are the experts in this area and we therefore invite you to be part of network or pool that will be formed to share your expertise with others,” he said.

He said the DOLE is also planning to mobilize resources, including publicly-funded programs to help MSMEs have access to and actually use digitalization in improving their productivity and overall operations.

“Our goal is to help MSMEs transform and develop their capacities to use technology-based solutions, mainly digital and AI-powered tools for accounting, inventory management, human capital, customer service, marketing, and supply chain management,” he said.

Secretary Laguesma said the DOLE will also provide comprehensive training and upskilling programs to ensure the MSME workforce has the necessary skills to make optimal use of digital platforms.

“We are looking at you to be both participants and facilitators in our efforts at transformation,” he added.

2023 Productivity Olympics Winners

Launched in 2008, the Productivity Olympics is a biennial competition that aims to intensify national awareness and commitment to quality and productivity, and showcase best productivity improvement and gainsharing programs of MSMEs across the country.

Winning MSMEs went through a multi-step selection process, from regional screening to national screening. The 30 national finalists were officially chosen by the National Judging Panel (NJP) on September 14, 2023. The awarding ceremony signifies the grand finale of the Productivity Olympics.

They will receive a trophy, priority endorsement to NWPC training programs and webinars and a cash prize of 120,000 for the national winners in three categories: agribusiness, industry and service sectors while all national finalists will receive Php15,000 each.

National and regional Productivity Olympics finalists also exhibited innovative homegrown products in a trade fair organized by the NWPC in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry.

This year’s Productivity Olympics theme, “From Striving to Thriving,” honors resilient MSMEs that achieved growth, innovation, job retention, and employee commitment.

For the first time, the “Gawad Inklusibo” award has been introduced to acknowledge enterprises that have shown notable leadership and innovation in promoting gender equality and social inclusion.

The “Gawad Luntian” Special Citation recognizes enterprises with contributions to environmental sustainability and efforts in generating green job opportunities in accord with the Republic Act No. 10771 or the Philippine Green Jobs Act.

The Best RTWPB was also recognized for pursuing excellence which produced the most number of winners in the competition.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Agribusiness sector-micro category

• Citrus Hill Plantation (Region XIII – Caraga)

Agribusiness sector -small category

• Umani Cabal Farm, Inc.  (Region XII – Soccsksargen)

Agribusiness sector – medium category

• Amparitas Integrated Farm (Region XIII- Caraga)

Industry sector -micro category

• Manjous Homemade Delicacies  (Region II – Cagayan Valley)

Industry sector -small category

• Eva Marie Arts and Crafts (Region VIII – Eastern Visayas)

Industry sector – medium category

• Lighthouse Cooperative  (Region II – Cagayan Valley)

Service sector – micro category

• Dubby’s Ultimate Burgers Food House  (Region VII – Central Visayas )

Service sector – small category

• Prime Seller Marketing (Region V – Bicol Region)

Service sector – medium category

• The Manor at Camp John Hay (Cordillera Administrative Region)

Gawad Inklusibo Award

• Agribusiness sector
  • Umani Cabal Farm, Inc. (Region XII – Soccsksargen)
• Industry sector
  • JN Cacao Food and Beverage Store (Region VII – Central Visayas)
• Service sector
  • Dubby’s Ultimate Burgers Food House (Region VII – Central Visayas)

Gawad Luntian Special Citation

• SN Aboitiz-Magat Inc (Region II—Cagayan Valley)
• Energy Development Corporation – Mt. Apo Geothermal Project (Region XII –SOCCSKSARGEN

Best RTWPB

• Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board – II (Cagayan Valley)