Safeway to set up center in RP

Safeway Inc., one of North America’s largest food and drug retailers, is establishing a support and development center in the Philippines, Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II announced yesterday.

"Safeway’s investment in the Philippines is a stamp of confidence in the country’s bid to evolve as the E-services hub of Asia," Roxas said during a press conference where he also announced the information technology upgrade given by the Meta Group to the Philippines.

Roxas said Safeway’s support and development center will be run by Safeway Philtech Inc., a newly established subsidiary of Safeway Inc.

Safeway Philtech will focus on software development, maintenance and support. It plans to hire over 200 information technology professionals.

The DTI chief also said "Safeway’s investment manifests investor confidence in our human resources and business environment."

"Safeway’s investment also reaffirms the upgrade given by the Meta Group to the country," he added.

From a ranking of D, the Meta Group has upgraded the Philippines’ ranking to C1.

A C1 rating means "developing with high potential for rapid evolution" and is two notches higher than the previous D or "underdeveloped" rating that the Meta Group previously assigned to the Philippines.

The upgraded C1 rating puts the Philippines at par with India and ahead of other Asian contenders in the outsourcing business.

In a letter to Roxas, Safeway Inc.’s vice president of IT, Anthony Meadows said the establishment of Safeway’s development and support center in the Philippines is a "very special and important phase in our corporate history."

"We pride ourselves with the investment and opportunities we bring to the Philippine IT workforce and the country," Meadows said.

Safeway is a Fortune 500 company with a market capitalization of $9 billion.

The company operates 1,694 stores in the US and Canada. It’s annual sales hit $32.4 billion in 2002.

Safeway’s future plans include consolidating all its US-based call center operations and relocate these to the Philippines by 2004.

The firm is planning to set up its first call center in the Philippines by the end of the year.