If there is one sector in Bacolod City that needs the attention and support of the local government it is for small entrepreneurs. Official and unofficial data claim this sector comprises 60 percent of the city’s business community, around 12,000 of the estimated 22,000 registered businesses currently in operation; if we include unregistered establishments, the number could be even higher. Their contribution to the annual gross domestic income has been an estimated 40 percent or higher. 

These businesses include sari-sari stores, roadside eateries, ambulant food stalls, market vendors, small goods retailers, e-load retailers, the nighttime chicken and pork stall operators, construction sites, single proprietor-operators of one or two public utility jeepneys (PUJ) or taxis, and dozens more.

There are two sides to the continued growth of small entrepreneurs, it can be a demonstration of the resilient spirit of Filipinos having to make ends meet or it could be solid proof the ruling government has failed to generate adequate employment opportunities in its stubborn pursuance of a debt-driven, consumer-led, and speculative development thrust. Economists call it “exclusionary development” because it pays more attention to a ballooning the gross national product (GNP) and gross domestic product (GNP) through speculative investment, infrastructure, and consumer spending; along with social and anti-poverty spending.

Instead of investing more in agriculture, in particular, food and resource development, provide more muscle to local industry, especially manufacturing, which create long-term jobs and focuses on assembly and processing products and materials for export. In addition, there is also real estate infrastructure development, malls, mining and quarrying, and business process outsourcing (BPO) call centers.

While we have infrastructure, malls, BPOs, and a ballooning GDP, employment is still slow, erratic, and unsustainable. In effect, the economy itself pushes Filipinos abroad or to establish family-owned enterprises purely for survival. If only a million or more entrepreneurs can be created, it would redound millions of jobs and reduce the necessity for worker to go abroad for work.

Government has to look into the matter seriously. Bills must be submitted to Congress, supporting small and micro entrepreneurs, and protecting their interests.

The Bacolod City government, along with the province, could start with bills establishing resources, a database of small and micro entrepreneurs, establish a locator for viable and sustainable programs and projects, and set a roadmap to promote comprehensive development for entrepreneurs.

Both government entities have the resources and capacity to engage local entrepreneurs and help propel them to undertake bigger initiatives. This is what it means to make a difference in governance – making it an instrument for changing lives and transforming communities, not just collecting taxes, protecting special interests, and giving tokens of services to the poor.

An entrepreneur’s economy may not be the strategic solution to our country’s fundamental problems, but it will surely contribute to easing the bottlenecks towards real inclusionary development./WDJ