Remarks by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Manila Fame 2024

Thank you, Secretary Cris.

Well, I came to, of course, see and to highlight to everyone this design exhibition — in design in the many different aspects that this is exercised, only to find that I’m a Johnny-come-lately because my wife has already been shopping. [laughter]

So, I came here, all that was left to me is to pay the bill already and to pick up her shopping. The usual husband duties.

But seriously, though, speaking, I have to say that it’s so impressive. I mean, I have watched the design community become better and better and better in the Philippines and approaching world-class.

Now, I would even go so far as to say that now we are, [as] in many cases that I’ve seen here today, surpassed world-class. We are better than others. [applause]

Now, the only thing — and that’s what DTI is working very hard to do — is to promote it. Makita lang ito, matutuwa na ang mga buyers.

The designs are so… First, they are very Filipino, which means they’re charming and they’re amusing and they’ re entertaining. They are not… Sometimes they are very serious; sometimes they’re not.

You can really see that Pinoys… Well, anyway, maybe because I’m Filipino, gawa ng Pinoy ‘yan, you know, because there is always a touch of humor, there is always a touch of charm, there’s always a touch of softness and gentleness.

And it’s something that I’m sure anyone who is in a market for these designs whether it be furniture or fashion, everything else that we’ve seen today, I am so confident that we will do well in the world market.

So, that’s what we are trying to promote and to find ways that your work can be seen abroad.

So, that now we can… And these are small… You are not big, enormous businesses. You start… You’re generally what — medium-scale enterprises.

But you will be large-scale enterprises once the DTI — the Government is able to put you now into not just the local space but the digital space, so that you are now working in the world market.

And it’s just up to us to scale up. It’s just up to us to keep the progress going because it’s very important that you’re continuously creative. But that’s — I don’t think that that’s a problem for Filipinos.

And if anything — should anyone think that this is just an exercise in design by people who are interested, there is a very quantifiable aspect to the design industry.

The design industry contributes 7.1, 7.2 percent of our GDP. And that is — when you translate that into pesos, that’s trillions of pesos. So, it’s not a small thing.

So, all of the reasons for us to do this and to do it properly are there for — for the government, for the country, for all of our practitioners.

And we will do everything that we can so that the world will know even better how good Filipinos are. Iyong galing ng Pinay makita ng buong mundo.

Congratulations to you all for this wonderful exhibit. [applause]

Good morning.

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