Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) comprise 99.6% of all operating business establishments in the country, contrary to a claim presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. made in a recent presidential debate that 95.5% of businesses are MSMEs.
But Marcos correctly said MSMEs contribute 62% to the country’s total employment.
Marcos, a former senator and defeated vice presidential candidate, gave the wrong figure during the SMNI presidential debate last Feb. 15 when asked about his priority programs if elected president. He said at 45:01 mark:
Yung micro, small and medium scale enterprises dahil 95.5% ng ating negosyo ay nasa kategoryang iyan, 62% ng employment ng mga employer ay nasa kategoryang iyan (The micro, small and medium scale enterprises comprise 95.5% of our businesses, while 62% of our employment emerges from this category).
The Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2021 Updating of the List of Establishment (ULE) classified 1,076,122 or 99.58% of the 1,080,638 establishments operating in the country as MSMEs. The remaining 4,516 or 0.41% are large-scale industries.
MSMEs are businesses that employ less than 200 employees and have an asset size below P100 million.
Similarly, the recent figure is close to the 2020 statistic where 952,969 or 99.51% out of 957,620 listed businesses in the country are MSMEs, according to PSA.
Marcos said in the debate he will provide jobs in the MSMEs, agriculture and tourism sectors to curb unemployment in the country.
As of last year, total employment stood at 8.57 million, but there is no breakdown yet of the employment contribution of MSME in the 2021 preliminary findings of PSA.
In 2020, MSMEs generated 62.66% or 5,380,815 of total employment, according to PSA. This supports Marcos’ other statement during the debate.
The SMNI debate, organized by SMNI network of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, was attended by four presidential candidates: Marcos, labor leader Leody de Guzman, former Foreign Undersecretary Ernesto Abella and former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales.
Vice President Leni Robredo and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno declined, citing conflict of schedule. Sen. Ping Lacson refused to attend because Quiboloy openly endorsed Marcos while Sen. Manny Pacquiao said he cannot join “in good conscience” given that Quiboloy is wanted for sex trafficking charges in the United States. (KC)