MANILA – President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s incoming trade secretary said he would divest from the Concepcion group, as he promised to support small entrepreneurs.

Ramon Lopez, 55, is head of corporate planning at food and beverage giant RFM Corp. and executive assistant to company chairman and CEO Jose Concepcion III.

Lopez is also the executive director of Go Negosyo, RFM’s entrepreneurial advocacy arm.

"The company has not been asking for any special treatment in the past years so why would we give one? Also, there is no particular program that can give special treatment to a company like the Concepcion group," he told ABS-CBN News.

Lopez said he would help Filipinos become "smart entrepreneurs."
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) should play a bigger role in the value chain of large corporations, an advocacy shared by Duterte, he said.

"The vision is higher income for the smaller guys," said Lopez, who holds a master’s degree in development economics from Williams College in Massachusetts.