The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) is asking Congress to immediately pass into law a measure seeking the creation of a Department of ICT along with the Philippine Anti-Cybercrime bill to ensure the continuous growth and global competitiveness of the country’s ICT industry.
CICT chairman Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III, in a recent press briefing in Malacañang, said that aside from the two measures pending in Congress, the agency has also created so far 11 Regional ICT Councils to improve the Philippines’ ranking as the fourth most favored destination for ICT services in the world.
The CICT was created by President Arroyo through Executive Order No. 269 in February 2004 as a transitory measure, until a Department of ICT is created, to address the urgent needs of the country’s fast-growing ICT industry.
Chua said the Philippine Cyber Corridor, one of the five super regions in Mrs. Arroyo’s economic development strategy unveiled in her 2006 State of the Nation Address (SONA), has to sustain its growth considering its enormous contribution to the economy.
“As the development champion of the Cyber Corridor Super Region, I am committed to sustaining the growth and competitiveness of our offshoring and outsourcing industry. CICT is working closely with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and other industry associations, as well as ICT councils from the various regions and other stakeholders of the ICT industry in pursuing this objective,” Chua said.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, call centers, animation studios, software development and gaming businesses, medical and legal transcription outfits, knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firms and most back office operations of multinational companies have found a gemstone in the Philippine Cyber Corridor, he said.
Chua noted that because of the huge contributions of the ICT industry to the growth of the Philippine economy, Mrs. Arroyo has challenged the industry to produce two million jobs by 2010.
In 2005, ICT-related jobs totaled 163,000 and earned $2.1 billion for the country.
Last year, the ICT industry generated a total of 244,000 jobs and raked in $3.6 billion in revenue.
This year, the industry aims to employ 403,000 ICT skilled workers and earn $5.1 billion for the country.
As proof of the strength of ICT, the Private Services growth picked up by 8.9 percent in 2007 from 7.7 percent in 2006, Chua noted.
The highest contributor was the Business Services subsector, which strengthened on the back of strong BPO growth that rose to 14.7 percent.
But more than the figures, the benefits of the Corridor are steadily being felt not just in mature BPO sites like Manila, Baguio, Cebu and Davao, but also in the development of the regional ICT hubs that continue to progress rapidly as locators expand their operations outside of Metro Manila.
Such viable ICT locations were Dumaguete, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Bohol, Clark, Sta. Rosa, Lipa, Legazpi, Naga, Rizal, and Bacolod, Chua said.
Before the end of 2007, locators will set up shop in places like Cabanatuan, Dagupan, Subic, Cavite and Tacloban, bringing the number of regions with locators to 30 or 35, Chua said.
In Dumaguete alone, there are currently 1,800 ICT skilled workers employed in companies like TeleTech, SPI, South Travel in Sibulan, Entheos IT, YEHS Outsourcing Corp., Original Code Weavers, Nexus Transcriptions, and IT Outlook Wireless Services Company.
Iloilo is also a study in competitiveness, playing host to ICT companies like ePLDT Ventus, Call Box Customer Contact Center, Echo Customer Contact Center, Global Mega Communications Inc., Techno Call Corp., Interactive Voice Call Center, Medilink Transcription Services and Eversun Software Philippines Corp.
Cebu, which is considered as one of the brightest growth spots of ICT in the regions, is home to BPO companies like Access Direct Teksolutions, Brightpoint Philippines, Calltek Center Int’l., Cebu Global Teleservices, Convergys, eTelecare Global Solutions, Goldtelecomm Specialist, iComm International, iNTOUCH, PeopleSupport, and Sykes, to name a few.
Chua also noted there is a new middle class emerging with a strong purchasing power funded by the ICT industry.
The Corridor’s success is steadily powering the expansion of both upstream and downstream industries like telecommunications, food, real estate, construction, electronics, transportation, entertainment and lifestyle businesses, he said.