BAGUIO CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will fly to Sagada, Mountain Province on Black Saturday to launch a tourism project under her "One Town, One Product" program to invigorate the local economy, generate employment and alleviate poverty.

Sagada, a town of 13,000 inhabitants north of here, is a favorite destination of foreign tourists, mostly backpackers. The President will take a helicopter for the 30-minute flight to Sagada.

The First Family is spending the Holy Week in Baguio City.

The "One Town, One Product" program is being funded by government financial institutions (GFIs), the Small Business Guarantee Fund (SBGF) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

The implementation of the program is being closely coordinated with local government units (LGUs).

Aside from seed financing, government financial institutions also provide techno-managerial assistance to the projects, which fall under small and medium enterprises (SMEs) category.

Under the "One Town, One Product" scheme, a town is assigned to develop a single product or enterprise. In the case of Sagada, the thrust is toward the development of local tourism.

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