MANILA — The government seeks to standardize adobo, sinigang, sisig, and other traditional Filipino dishes so these could easily be promoted abroad, the Department of Trade and Industry said on Monday.

The DTI last week said it formed a technical committee to "develop the Philippine National Standards" that would take into consideration variations in cooking techniques for Philippine dishes across different regions.

"Obvious ba, hindi naman ho mandatory iyan. Ano lang ho iyan, parang may basic traditional recipe para kapag pinromote abroad mayroong tinatawag na 'Philippine adobo'," said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

(Is it not obvious? That is not mandatory. That is just so that we would have a basic traditional recipe when you promote it abroad. For instance, there will be a 'Philippine adobo.')

"At kasi alam ninyo naman kapag abroad, sasabihin ng iba, 'Ah, may Mexican adobo.' Baka may umangkin pa noong ating Philippine adobo. So, kailangan lang mayroon tayong i-promote at iyan po ay ginagawa ng ibang bansa, mayroon silang traditional recipe," he said in a press briefing.

(And you know that abroad, some say, 'There's Mexican adobo.' Someone else might claim our Philippine adobo. We need to promote something, and that's being done by other countries, they have their traditional recipes.)

The agency consulted chefs for the effort, as part of "creative industry exports," said the trade chief.

"Ang priority natin is to fight the pandemic ‘no at saka iyong economic recovery... Ang bansa natin despite ng pandemic tuloy iyong mga ibang trabaho. Kasama ito actually, sa creative industry exports," Lopez said.

"Alam ninyo, malakas tayo sa mga creative industry exports na kailangan ngayon ng mga government support," he continued.

(Our priority is to fight the pandemic and attain economic recovery. In our country, despite the pandemic, other jobs continue. These include creative industry exports. Our creative industry exports are strong, and they need government support.)