CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines – The Subcontracting Partners for Innovation (SPIN) program, a private-public partnerships (PPP) program headed by the Department of Trade and Industry in Central Visayas (DTI 7), has reported gains totaling some P50.2 million in sales for 2010.

“We are happy to note that the SPIN program is especially growing in the far-flung areas of the region and other regions as well. It is a testament of the strong partnership between the government and the exporters,” enthused DTI 7 Director, Asteria Caberte.

Citing official records, Caberte said that apart from the P50.2-million revenues it gained last year, the SPIN program also generated 4,756 jobs, assisted 159 micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and conducted a total of 38 trainings in 2010, all these despite a meager budget of only P2 million.

Caberte considers this accomplishment as “an indication that the program is indeed helping the country create more job opportunities for more Filipinos.”

Training activities under the SPIN program are conducted on a "market-driven" scheme wherein products manufactured by the trained group are actual export orders. “Most exporters with not enough workers to do job orders from their clients end up subcontracting some of these processes,” Caberte said.

For instance, under the program, weavers in the countryside are made to undergo skills training on weaving and craftsmanship where their hand-made products are bought by exporters once the latter are found at par with quality standards.

Caberte said DTI intends to expand the SPIN program to far-flung places, including former conflict areas identified by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

For this year, the government has allocated P1.5 million to fund the program, with P600,000 apportioned for Central Visayas.

The DTI 7 regional director said that for the first quarter of this year, the SPIN program has racked up P10.13 million in sales, created some 3,126 jobs, and has assisted 49 MSMEs all over the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, and Siquijor.

The SPIN program, a government-private sector undertaking conceptualized in Cebu, not only generates employment for weavers but likewise assists exports in increasing production volume of exported products.

The program, which was established in June 2008 with an initial funding of about P500,000, now benefits thousands of families in Central Visayas as well as in Regions 1, 2, 3, 10, 11 and 12.