THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the city has officially started the awarding of the Safety Seal to the qualified local businesses.
This initiative, which the government crafted recently, aims to recognize those establishments that consistently comply with the minimum public health standards and use or integrate their contact tracing mechanism with StaySafe.ph.
DTI-Davao City Director Rachel S. Remitio said that the business sector’s efforts to keep up with the challenging times should not be discounted. Hence, the agency has been doing its best to show its support to them.
“More than a year has already passed for this global pandemic, and we can observe that the Davaoeños have been trying their best to adapt and live according to the so-called new normal. It is not easy for all of us to be in this situation, but we should keep moving forward and do whatever we can to help each other,” the local trade official said.
Remitio added that the different sectors of society, particularly the those engaged in business, have unwittingly shown their resourcefulness and innovativeness in creating a safe and healthy environment for its customers, especially in restarting their operations despite several setbacks and innumerable lockdowns. In order to assist and augment their efforts, the government, through the DTI, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Health (DOH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Tourism (DOT), created the Safety Seal Certification Program.
“The Safety Seal Certification program is voluntary in nature. We do not obliged establishments to get certified with us. However, if they have this Safety Seal, their customers will be more confident to visit them,” Remitio explained.
The DTI issues the Safety Seal for supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, membership shopping clubs, construction supply/hardware stores, logistics service providers, barbershops and salons, and service and repair shops.
To date, DTI-Davao City has already inspected 24 establishments which applied for a Safety Seal Certification, apart from the ongoing validation and inspection of incoming applications.
As of June 23, the office was able to award nine Safety Seal certificates to the following establishments: Bruno’s Barbershop, Boss Barbershop, SNR Membership shopping, SM City Davao (Ecoland), Savemore (Bangkal), SM Lanang Premier, Wilcon Panacan, Wilcon Matina, and NCCC Mall Buhangin.
“When we asked the applicants why they were convinced to apply for a Safety Seal, most of them talked about the confidence and assurance that they could give their customers once they have the certificate displayed inside their stores or buildings. This is also their way of gauging their existing system on whether or not it is compliant, or if it still needs some improvements so that they can help the government further in its efforts to address such a humongous responsibility,” Remitio said.
In the meantime, one customer agreed with the establishments, when asked regarding her opinion on the Safety Seal Certification issuance.
“Assured kami na safe ang gina-groceryhan namin kay gina-check siya ng DTI and may seal sila so meaning approved or tama ang system nila sa health protocols,” the customer said.
To apply, interested businesses may visit https://www.dti.gov.ph/safetyseal and tap on “Apply
Here” to start the process. The nearest DTI office can also be reached through their official Facebook pages or contact numbers. PR
