Come to think that we have other markets to tap like other Middle Eastern countries, North Africa, Southeast Asia, East Asia, North America, Europe, and other areas
I think what the Philippine halal needs to be globally competitive is a holistic program, including the role of marketing and support mechanisms in the global perspective.
We need to achieve the following:
1.Our government should prioritize the establishment of a Halal Board of the Philippines mandated to oversee the the halal industry through a well-defined enabling law and Implenting Rules ad Regulation.
It is heart-warming to know that Sen. Robinhood Padilla and Sen. Win Gatchalian agreed to finetune the measures governing Halal.
2.We should clearly define what halal is. It goes beyond dietary restrictions to include treatment of animals and lifestyle practices and refers to practices and behaviors that are considered permissible according to Islamic teachings.
3.Halal provides the Philippines an opportunity to increase its agriculture and food exports.
It could be a part of the vision of President Bongbong Marcos to gain more investments which will translate into higher economic activity, more quality jobs and better quality of life for Filipinos.
With halal, the Department of Trade and Industry aims to generate P230 billion in investments and create 120,000 jobs in the sector within five years.
The plan is to tap the growing demand from 1.9 billion Muslims across 57 countries spanning Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas, plus the local market.
The global halal market is expected to reach $7.7 trillion in value by 2025.
4.We need to have an effective domestic marketing. Halal is for everybody – a way of life that inculcates purity in oneself.
A misnomer among Filipinos is that halal is limited to Muslims. It transcends food to cover purified lifestyle, customs and tradition.
5.The government should motivate investors to support the halal sector.
It may offer incentives to producers so they can meet complex technical requirements in manufacturing halal products.
Just like in the Maharlika Investment Fund where clear IRRs are imperative and should be acceptable to all stakeholders, a well written law and IRR for the halal sector will come in handy for both the national government and the investors.
We also need to ensure corrupt-free implementation of such measure.
6. The DTI should actively promote halal, from local to global stage, with generally-accepted marketing principles and branding strategy.
We need something like PH HALAL brand. We can use the PH HALAL logo in packaging and advertising materials
We should start with research to improve Halal products, ingredients and services.
This will give the halal sector the opportunity to scan the global competition or what others do in the foreign markets.
Switzerland, for example, has no cacao production, but by importing raw materials and efficient processes, they produce the best chocolates in the world.
We should also achieve competitive pricing for exports to countries that require halal products including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and personal care items.
In a recent visit to Brunei, the Trade Minister showed us a halal chicken plant run by many Filipinos including 15 who came from Luzon who are not even Muslims.
This means we can also export skilled labor to the Middle East, Southeast Asia or Europe to support the Halal industry on a global scale.
7.The Philippines should identify the markets for Halal products, including ingredients, finished products, services or manpower.
8.We need to improve our regulatory environment for halal. There should be only one governing agency for all halal products.
The Philippine Halal Board should help craft and implement the IRR, with quasi legal powers to implement the law.
The Senate and the House of Representatives should also review existing Halal laws and have them purified into one enabling law.
9.The Department of Tourism and the Department of Foreign Affairs should hold education/awareness campaigns among stakeholders – from foreign investors to frontliners such as restaurant staff, tourist guides and drivers.
Embassies should promote Philippine Halal in countries where applicable.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, you need multi-racial approach to market our homegrown products. You have 700,000 OFWs there as your baseline market.
When I was hired as a sales consultant for Sony in Saudi Arabia, we had to produce 10 different posters to cater to different nationalities.
Come to think that we have other markets to tap like other Middle Eastern countries, North Africa, Southeast Asia, East Asia, North America, Europe, and other areas.
This means we need multi-lingual promotional tools at the point of sale.
10.We should organize an annual halal congress at the national and regional levels to raise awareness and promote best practices.
(The author is a public relations and marketing consultant)