The Small Business Corporation (SBCorp), the lending arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), continues to provide financial assistance to affected micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), cooperatives, hospitals, tourism business, and repatriated or displaced Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) by the COVID-19 pandemic under the Bayanihan CARES (COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises).
Bayanihan CARES was launched in October 2020 with PhP 8.08 billion funds thru equity infusion was allocated to SBCorp under the Bayanihan 2 Act. This is an interest-free and collateral-free financing program wherein the borrower MSMEs will only need to pay a one-time service fee, which is set at a maximum of eight (8) percent for a 4-year loan term. Continue reading SBCorp continues financial assistance to affected businesses amid the ongoing pandemic
The Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB), Export Development Council (
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) allowed adjustments on minor errors, misdeclaration, or misclassification in the Export Declaration (ED) form without having to pay the fines. A fee amounting to Php 5,000 per clerical error and 250% surcharge per misdeclaration or misclassification is still imposed if discrepancies in the ED are fraudulent.
The Export Development Council (EDC) manifests its support on the full investment liberalization outside of the natural monopolies through a joint statement of support with the Industry Leaders, namely the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), and Supply Chain Management Association of the Philippines (SCMAP).
There is a silver lining on the issue of lack of vessel space and containers, as another Philippine shipping company based in Mindanao, the Reefer Express Line Filipinas, Inc. takes on long haul US route with its vessel MV Cool Spirit to help the exporters ship their goods amid the current global transport and logistics problem. The voyage started from General Santos City last 02 September 2021. 
The Royal Cargo, Inc. (RCI) will commence its maiden voyage to Los Angeles by mid-September this year. Its launch will be made through one of the vessels of Iris Logistics Inc. (Iris Paoay), a Philippine shipping company 80% owned by RCI. Iris Paoay is a general container cargo vessel with 1100 TEUs capacity.
The Department of Finance (DOF), Bureau of Customs (BOC), together with the Anti-red Tape Authority (ARTA) headways the onboarding activities of the eighteen (18) trade regulatory priority agencies in TradeNet; Six (6) of which were recently onboarded which include BAFS, SRA, FPA, EMB, NMIS and OMB. These agencies are still finalizing their module manuals, operational guidelines, and helpdesk in preparation for their live implementation. The TradeNet Steering Committee also pledged to include another twelve (12) agencies to onboard by September 2021.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) prepares the PH live exchange of the ASEAN Customs Declaration Document (ACDD) by December 2021, via the TradeNet. The completion of the ACDD system’s bidding process received concurrence from the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) on 05 August 2021. BOC is now crafting a national master data plan with the USAID ASEAN Policy Implementation (API) Project Team for Interoperability.