Amid the resignation of Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is hoping that whoever President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will appoint as his replacement will continue the programs and innovations he introduced in the department during his term.

“We have high respects for Sec. Pascual for his dedication and hard work in promoting MSMEs to the core. We’ve worked with him on various programs and advocacies that support the development of MSMEs,” said Consul Enunina V. Mangio, PCCI president.

Malacanan on Monday announced the resignation of Pascual as DTI Chief effective August 2 and his plan to go back to private sector.

Mangio said that PCCI has established a good working relationship with Pascual in pursuing certain advocacies and plans that support dynamism and competitiveness of MSMEs in the country.

“We, in PCCI, would support whoever will the President appoint as the new DTI Chief. After all, we all work for the common good of our enterprises and the consuming public,” Mangio said.

She hopes that initiatives and programs such as promotion of regional industrialization, enhancing ease of doing business, addressing skills mismatch, attracting investments, expanding exports and enhance consumer protection will remain as priority programs of DTI.

PCCI and DTI have closely been working on various initiatives such as MSME resilience program, educating MSMEs on the importance of intellectual property rights, investment promotion (through in-bound and out-bound mission) and trade education and advocacy campaign on the various free trade agreements (FTAs), among others.