With micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) comprising 99 percent of all businesses in the country, presidential candidate Sen. Manny Pacquiao on Tuesday said they should be fully supported.
The senator made the commitment to help MSMEs as he renewed his vow to eradicate hunger in the country.
“One of the best ways to save the people from the clutches of poverty is to fully support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),” he said.
He described MSMEs as the “real givers” of jobs to Filipinos.
Pacquiao said if he is elected president, he will allocate funds to finance interest-free loans for MSMEs.
He would also create more one-stop shops and online portals that would ensure corrupt-free and hassle-free processing of all business permits and loan applications.
The latest results of SWS surveys showed 2.5 million Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.
The same figure also indicated that around 10 percent of families went hungry due to lack of food to eat in the past quarter.
Pacquiao said while the September 2021 hunger rate is 3.6 percentage points below the 13.6 percent recorded in June 2021, it was still 0.7 percentage point above the 2019 annual average of 9.3 percent.
He said his dream is to see that no Filipinos will suffer from hunger anymore because he knows firsthand how hard and degrading it is.