The essence of “Bayanihan” has wielded its power in every endeavor to achieve specific milestones.

This embodies the guiding principle of lawmaker Edwin Olivarez, from the 1st District of Parañaque, who championed the institutionalization of the One Town One Product project. This initiative has propelled the triumph of micro, small and medium enterprises in the province of Laguna, a testament to his impactful legacy preceding his service to the constituents of the City of Parañaque.

Once a successful licensed real estate broker, Olivarez was equipped with the right mindset on how to be successful, may it be in politics or entrepreneurship.

The time that started it all

When he was a board member and vice governor of Laguna, Olivarez said he made some strides to make MSMEs known for their products, the essence of the OTOP scheme that he backed so micro-entrepreneurs will earn substantial revenues.

OTOP is a priority stimulus program for MSMEs as the government’s customized intervention to drive inclusive local economic growth.

The program enables localities and communities to determine, develop, support, and promote products or services rooted in their local culture, community resources, creativity, connection, and competitive advantage.

As their own
“pride-of-place,” these are offerings where they can be the best at or best renowned for.

It endeavors to capacitate our “OTOPreneurs” to innovate and produce market-ready products and services.

“When you say Liliw, footwear is top of mind; when you say Paete, it’s their wood carvings; when you say Sta. Cruz, that’s kesong puti. That says we have a specific one-town product that we can market. So LGUs should do something to enhance their production,” he said during the recent opening of the DAILY TRIBUNE’s “Tindahan ni Tarsee” in Ayala Malls by the Bay in Parañaque City.

He said it is important that LGUs guide MSMEs to have a wider market for their products.

The saving grace of government financial institutions

As the committee chairperson of the Committee on Government-Owned and Control Corporation, Olivarez was also asked by the Small Business Corporation to make some efforts to add the seed fund of the lending arm of the Department of Trade and Industry.

The Asian Innovation Forum of the DAILY TRIBUNE, which coincided with the opening of “Tindahan ni Tarsee,” became a venue for SBCorp president and CEO Robert Bastillo to personally seek the help of Olivarez to add its current budget to be able to help more MSMEs by providing soft loans.

The SBCorp chief revealed that the financing gap in the country is currently around P300 to 400 billion, while SBCorp’s capital is not even 10 percent of the gap.

“That’s why there is an ongoing revision of the Magna Carta for MSMEs in Congress. As long as the Magna Carta is not yet amended, then we cannot increase our capital to serve more MSMEs in the country,” he told Olivarez, who was receptive to Bastillo’s pleas during the latter’s speech at the said event.

In 2019, the DTI, the mother agency of the SBCorp, has been pushing for legislative measures to amend the Magna Carta for MSMEs and institutionalize the microlending program Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso or P3 program.

At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, SBCorp launched the CARES program, a zero-interest loan with a P1-billion budget funded internally.

With the program’s success, the House of Representatives allocated P10 billion under the Bayanihan to Recover as One (Bayanihan 2) for the CARES loan.

The Department of Budget and Management, however, only released P8.08 billion to SBCorp, the financing arm of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Of the total released fund, P4 billion was allotted for multi-sectoral MSMEs and P4 billion for tourism-related MSMEs. The rest was spent on the mobilization and operating expenses to roll out the microfinancing program.

Man of significance

Born on 14 August 1963, Olivarez served as mayor of Parañaque from 2013 to 2022, as well as Metro Manila Council chairperson and head of the Regional Peace and Order Council — National Capital Region in a concurrent capacity.

He also served as a board member of Laguna before he was elected Vice Governor of Laguna under Teresita Lazaro from 2004 to 2007.

Olivarez, a former national tennis team and National Collegiate Athletic Association Junior and Senior Tennis champion, is the son of former mayor and incumbent San Dionisio barangay captain Pablo Olivarez and the older brother of incumbent mayor Eric Olivarez.

During his term as mayor of Parañaque City, he was seen as the man who exemplified the upsurge of new politics in the city.

Throughout his tenure, he devoted himself to sculpting the city into a masterpiece, earning abundant well-deserved accolades.

His first 100 days in office were highlighted by the completion of several socialized housing projects for hundreds of beneficiary families in the city.

He had instructed the Local Housing Development Office to determine an in-city relocation site to ensure no informal settler families would be displaced, to avoid disrupting their livelihood, and to keep their children in school.

Olivarez said most of these properties are under the Community Mortgage Program.

He was also bestowed the 2013 National Maagap Awards by the Organized Response for the Advancement of Society or ORAS Movement, which promotes punctuality and civility in society.

In 2013, he was picked as the Most Outstanding Business Executive and a recipient of the Gawad Sikap Award, both given by Child Assistance and Rehabilitation Inc. or CARE.

With his love of assisting senior citizens, he also initiated the OSCA Cares Program by the city’s Office of Senior Citizen Affairs upon his assumption.

The program provided benefits such as free laboratory examinations and medical check-ups during the birth months of senior citizens of Parañaque City, aside from those provided by Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

Senior citizens in the city are also entitled to a P500 birthday cash gift, another P500 as a Christmas gift every year, and free movies in the town, among other benefits.

With these strides, Olivarez was well-loved by his constituents and continued to serve the country by crafting monumental measures in the House of Representatives.

One of Olivarez’s authored bills is House Bill 5784, which mandates the Department of Education to include voters’ education in the high school curriculum to help first-time voters understand their rights and duties during political exercises.

Olivares said the bill, known as the “Voters’ Education Act of 2012,” seeks to strengthen patriotism and nationalism among Filipino youth and educate them to become responsible members of society.

“Voters’ education courses shall equip first-time voters with the importance of the right of suffrage, how the voters should evaluate and choose the candidates, and their consequent duty to maintain the sanctity of the ballot and the electoral process,” Olivarez said.