The Philippines' affinity with American culture is obvious throughout the archipelago. From the country's favorite pastime to the most popular music genre, Filipinos have indeed embraced the American lifestyle.
the country's awareness of American culture is due to many Filipinos' migration to the US throughout the early 20th century as well as the influence of American education that placed importance in teaching Filipinos US culture and history.
In almost all aspects of American life, the American tradition is a major element of the average Filipino's existence.

LANGUAGE
The mixture of English and Tagalog, the Filipinos' major dialect, or "Taglish" in everyday language is a major aspect of the American heritage in the Philippines.
ex. "It's so init here ha." Translation: "It's so hot here."

SPORTS
American influence is seen in the country's popular recreational sports. These include boxing, billiards, basketball, chess, bowling and soccer. Among these, boxing, billiards, and basketball are the most popular with Filipinos. Virtually every barangay in the country has at least one billiard table and basketball court. Flag football is also rapidly gaining popularity among many Filipinos.
Filipinos of sports fame include Manny Pacquiao and Efren "Bata" Reyes.

MUSIC
Americans introduced the blues, folk, R&B and rock and roll., all of which are now the most popular music genres in the country. As a result, much original Pilipino music (OPM) is suggestive of earlier American popular music which has also lead to certain popularity among North American Audiences.

ENTERTAINMENT
The profound penetration of the US media and mass consumer culture in the Philippines is evident in popular local TV reality shows such as "Philippine Idol" and "Pinoy Big Brother", Hollywood movies, and the many fast food chains that abound in the country. Almost every block in the major business districts has a McDonald's or Starbucks.

THE OFW PHENOMENON
Overseas Filipino Workers are the great forces that have highly influenced Philippine society today. OFWs working in the US and the multitude of Filipino Americans residing there are the main reasons for the continuous flow of popular American culture to the country.

TEXTING
The Philippines is the world's texting capital thanks to the number of short messaging system or SMS the country churns out everyday. The country made a global mark because of its widespread use of texts that allowed telecom operators to make a lot of money even if the average revenue for each user was lower compared to other countries.

PHILIPPINE ECONOMIC ZONES
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) are the lead investment promotion agencies attached to the country's Department of Trade and Indsutry. BOI assists foreign investors to venture and prosper in desirable areas of economic activities while PEZA grants fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to developers of economic zones, export producers, and I.T. service exporters.

TAGLISH
A combination of "Tagalog" and "English", it is now arguably a lingua franca in many parts of the country.

13th MONTH PAY
The law providing the 13th month pay in the Philippines was passed in 1975 to allow the working masses to properly celebrate Christmas and New Year by giving them an additional source of income. Employers are urged to give the 13th month pay before December 24.

BPO operations in the Philippines began in 2000 with 2,400 people employed in call centers. The BPO sector continues to thrive at 40-50% annually as a result of the country's lower labor costs, large talent pool, and affinity with American culture as major factors for growth. The outsourcing industry is expected to generate $10 billion in 2010.

The first wave of BPO operations settled in Metro Manila, the Philippines' capital. The country's major BPO hubs are located throughout the various satellite cities Makati, Ortigas, Eastwood, Alabang, and Quezon City where more than 80 voice-based contact centers are found.

Metro Manila was the popular choice for BPO during the onset of outsourcing to the Philippines but investors are now locating to cities outside the capital that are just as competitive.

Established firms claim that these dynamic "centers of excellence" have actively pursued the growth and development of their business.

The advantages of locating to these cities are a talented labor pool (with most having a higher literacy rate than Manila); low operational costs, and competent suppliers for disaster recovery. Another advantage posted is the monetary and non-monetary incentives for investors.

MANILA, Philippines -- The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) has identified 15 key cities assessed as ideal locations for investors in the BPO sector.

Monchito Ibrahim, consultant for CICT's cyberservices group, said the 15 cities are among 35 being assessed under the Cyberservices Corridor initiative.

The CICT looks at factors like availability of human resources, peace and order, power and telecom infrastructure.

"Redundancy is an important factor in terms of infra. There must be at least two telcos or service providers present (in an area)," Ibrahim said in an interview.

Aside from those in Metro Manila, the initial list of cities include Cebu and Davao in the South that already have a sizable number of BPO firms.

"Bacolod (Negros Occidental), for example, has been getting a lot of interest. Sta. Rosa (Laguna) is also investing in a number of buildings that are attracting investors," Ibrahim said.

Other cities identified by CICT include General Santos, Dagupan (Pangasinan), Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija), Bacoor (Cavite) and Lipa (Batangas).

The CICT was assisted by Department of Trade and Industry regional offices in doing the assessment.

"We try to mobilize the academe and private sector groups in these cities. Investors generally are most confident when talking to local businessmen," Ibrahim said.

MANILA, Philippines -- The local outsourcing industry earned at least $5 billion last year and current global trends favor further growth.

Outsourcing revenues grew from $3.5 billion in 2006, according to government estimates. The industry currently employs 320,000 workers, up from 235,000 in 2006, according to figures provided by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Outsourcing advisory firm Tholons said current trends in the global market favor outsourcing "centers of excellence" like the Philippines. On the client side, trends include growing confidence in outsourcing more processes that impact "topline" growth such as marketing and R&D. Smaller companies, Tholons said, are also adopting outsourcing.

Meanwhile, service providers are likewise expanding globally with private equity participation. In particular, Tholons sees European firms building offshore capabilities.

Tholons is helping organize next month's eServices conference, organized by the DTI (through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Mission) and the Business Process Association of the Philippines.

Industry executives from various countries such as India, China, Vietnam and Latin America are attending this year's conference, which highlights these centers of excellence.

According to Tholons, the huge demand from outsourcing clients influence the emergence of these outsourcing markets.

Tholons noted: "Providing quality services rather than low-cost solutions will be the main driver."

"More than 100 companies are participating in this year's eServices exhibit. Last year's conference helped generate more $34 billion in outsourcing contracts for local service providers, according to CITEM."

THERE is no more question that the Philippines is a prime location for outsourced services, tasks for which a company hires another firm to do, and for offshore services, so called because the services are contracted to a company located outside the country where the client is headquartered.

A study by the Institute for Development and Economic Analysis Inc. (Idea) said that the Philippines is earning over P3 billion annually from the outsourcing and offshoring industry, with most of the players located in Metro Manila.

As these companies expand to cope with exponential growth, rental rates and labor costs skyrocket in Metro Manila, the study said. This raises the pressure to find new locations where there is enough labor pool.

The well known alternatives are Baguio City, Clark and Subic in Pampanga, Cavite City, Sta. Rosa in Laguna and Lipa in Batangas. These are certainly easy to reach from Manila, with good infrastructure and connectivity to boot. But what of others?

Idea chief Cayetano Paderanga Jr., former director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, said that outsourcing and offshoring companies have 11 other sites to consider.

Up north, Tuguegarao City and Cabanatuan City were found to be viable alternatives to Baguio.

Going to the Visayas, the Bayan-commissioned study showed Iloilo, Bacolod, Camarines Sur, Dumaguete and Leyte to be the best sites south of Batangas.

Further down south, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Iligan City and South Cotabato are giving Metro Manila a run for its money.

"What these locations offer are relatively lower cost of doing business, nominal minimum wage, and population density compared with Metro Manila. While Manila still have more graduates in offshoring-related fields who are fluent in English, these locations have enough English-speaking graduates to sustain supply. They may even offer less attrition because the young graduates would be employed near the home, unlike their counterparts in Metro Manila," Paderanga said.

He noted that in general, the alternative sites present minimal business risks from natural calamities and crime.

In the end, though, studies can only serve as guides and it is up to outsourcing and offshoring businesses to check out the alternative sites for themselves, said Paderanga.

"We cannot endorse a certain location, the company has to look through the data and decide where it will actively scout for a suitable site. The Philippines has many locations to choose from, even some with tourist attractions thrown in as a plus-factor. The important thing is that alternative sites are maximized to sustain supply for this fast growing industry and at the same time spread development outside Metro Manila," he said.

The study was commissioned by Bayan Telecommunications Inc., a local phone company which offers telecommunications products and services geared for outsourcing and offshoring companies.

MANILA, Philippines -- THE PHILIPPINES is poised to overtake India as the world's top provider of business process outsourcing services as industry players firm up their strength and marketing efforts.

Cesar B. Bautista, co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the Indian cyber services sector was losing its edge as telecommunication infrastructure get saturated and costs go up.

"At the same time, our BPO sector has started strengthening their organization into something like India's Nasscom [National Association of Software and Services Companies], which can represent the members as a bigger and more influential entity," Bautista said.

He was alluding to the Business Process Association of the Philippines, which he said could now be more decisive because it had reformed its structure, unlike the "weak" group it had been in the past years.

Bautista, a former trade secretary who now represents the private sector in the NCC, said it was only expected that the Philippines would emerge as a leading provider of BPO services despite coming into it later than India did.

He noted that information technology-enabled services had become the fastest growing sector in the economy, which is expected to be providing some 400,000 jobs by the end of this year compared to 8,000 in 2000.

"Our cyber services sector is growing much than that of India and the projection that by 2010, the industry would represent a million jobs and $12 billion in revenues is not farfetched," Bautista said.

To prove his point, Bautista cited to a report that US-based research firm Frontier Strategy Group released earlier this month, which identified the Philippines as one of seven markets that would drive corporate profit growth in 2008 and beyond.

Titled "Shift from the BRIC to the Future 7," the study showed that the country--along with Indonesia, inland Brazil (as opposed to the coastal areas), inland China, Mexico, Turkey and Vietnam--was replacing the BRIC countries (coastal Brazil, Russia, urban India, and coastal China) as markets of fast growth.

Based on FSG's survey of at least 100 top executives from top performing firms in the world, 86 percent said the Philippines was a top destination in the Asia-Pacific-together with inland China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines has been ranked among the top 10 fastest growing markets for broadband connectivity by telecom industry analyst Ovum.

The Philippines was mentioned along with Greece, Indonesia, India, Ukraine, Ireland, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia and Turkey.

Based on Ovum's report, Ireland is projected to have the highest broadband penetration rate by 2011 followed by Greece, Turkey, Thailand and Russia.

In the Philippines, the number of broadband users is expected to grow from some three million to less than 10 million in the same period, based on a graph that accompanied the Ovum report.

Infrastructure competition, relative pricing and regulatory involvement are what drives the growth of broadband markets, Ovum said in a statement.

"At a time when broadband is quickly reaching saturation point in most developed markets, less developed markets across the globe continue to exhibit extremely high levels of growth," Ovum analyst Jonathan Coham said in the report.

However, he added that barriers still exist in in many of these countries that could limit the growth of their broadband markets.

He said: "Wealth relative to the cost of broadband is a major consideration in most of these markets."

Ovum's report noted that broadband Internet service providers in Greece, Turkey, Ireland and Russia all offer cheap services relative to the average disposable income in their markets, in order to make broadband attractive to a greater proportion of potential subscribers.

This, in addition to content, has helped to drive the uptake of broadband services, according to Coham.

"In a growing number of cases, demand for content is helping to fuel broadband growth, as operators incorporate TV and VoD [video on demand] services into their offerings early on."

MANILA, Philippines--Team Europe is rounding up business process outsourcing (BPO) companies for a trade mission planned for second half of the year.

Launched last week, Team Europe is a task force whose goal is to promote the Philippines as a BPO destination. It is spearheaded by the European and British chambers of commerce in the country.

Last year, the European BPO market overtook the US in terms of overall contract value, according to Stephanie Weber, business development manager for the European IT Service Center (EITSC), who is also heading Team Europe.

The European (or EU) market grew by 28 percent last year in terms of contract value, Weber said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

"The European has been largely untapped in the past but it is now fast catching up with the American market and is slowly maturing," she said.

According to her, the biggest stumbling block for local BPO companies is the lack of awareness of the Philippines among European businesses.

"The biggest problem [in Europe] right now is that people don't really know much about the Philippines," said Weber. "There is lack of awareness about a business district here like Makati or there is good infrastructure to support BPO."

The country, however, has made some inroads in the European or EU market. Last October, UK's National Outsourcing Association named the Philippines as the top "emerging" destination for offshore outsourcing.

Weber believes Europe remains a largely untapped market. Also, she noted that the euro is a more stable currency compared to the US dollar.

"In comparison to peso, it has risen by only eight percent compared with 18 to 20 percent for the US dollar last year," she said. ""This gives local companies a more stable base to calculate the value of their contracts now and for the future as well."

Asked whether Team Europe is funding the trade mission, Weber said participating companies would have to shoulder their own expenses.

"Team Europe is purely a promotional, not a sales office," she clarified. "Our message is that local companies would have to go out and present themselves first as a country, and later as individual companies."

Team Europe, she added, also has plans of bringing representatives from European companies to visit the country.

According to a study by Sullivan and Frost, the Philippines was cited as one of the top 10 locations for outsourcing.

The top 10 countries are India, Malaysia, China, Ireland, Singapore, Mexico, Czech Republic, Poland and Canada.

In Frost and Sullivan's most recent global study on Shared Services and Outsourcing (SSO), the global SSO market was estimated to be worth $930 billion and predicted it will earn 15 percent more by 2009.

HSBC, CitiGroup, Dell Computer and Safeway have all set up shared services centers in the Philippines.

According to Frost and Sullivan, IBM and Sykes have moved their SSO operations from India to the Philippines.

According to Frost and Sullivan's estimates, the Philippine back-office industry generated revenues of $180 million in 2005.

source: inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines--More cities in the southern Philippines are following Cebu's model and forming their own information and communication technology (ICT) councils in order to attract investments from the outsourcing industry.

Following the example of the Cebu Educational Foundation for Information Technology (CEDF-IT), similar groups have already been formed in Iloilo (the Iloilo Federation for Information Technology or I-FIT) and Bacolod (Bacolod-Negros Occidental Educational Foundation for Information Technology or B-NEFIT).

The creation of similar ICT councils is now underway in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos and Iligan, according to Bonifacio Belen, president of CEDF-IT, which comprises local government, business groups and non-governmental organizations.

Representatives from these cities recently met in Cebu City to organize a governing body for all regional ICT councils.

"In the next six months, we will organize ourselves into a national federation," Belen said.

Among the goals of this resulting national body is to facilitate the exchange of best practices between different cities, he added.

Belen said: "At CEDF-IT, we are already going beyond HR (human resource) development. We are working on other areas especially investment promotion and marketing."

Both the Commission on ICT and an industry body, the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), have been encouraging this initiative as a way of developing more locations for investors in the business process outsourcing industry.

Belen said cities like Dagupan and Baguio in the northern Philippines have also expressed interest in forming their respective ICT councils.

Asked if this would result in cities trying to outdo each
other in attracting investors, Belen replied: "We want to foster 'co-opetition' instead. Based on BPAP's projections, the industry needs at least some 600,000 workers. That's more than enough that can be supplied nationwide right now."

MANILA, Philippines--Cebu is living up to its billing as one of the world's top emerging destinations for business process outsourcing (BPO), a local leader has said.

Indian outsourcer Wipro recently announced it was opening a customer support center in the city that will employ as many as 900 workers.

Indian companies are not the only ones looking at investing in Cebu right now.

Separate groups of Japanese and American investors visited Cebu last month along, according to Bonifacio Belen, executive director of the Cebu Educational Foundation for Information Technology (CEDF-IT).

CEDF-IT is composed of representatives from the local government, academe and non-governmental organizations or NGOs in Cebu.

In a recent report, investment advisory firm Tholons ranked Cebu as one of the top emerging destinations for outsourcing firms behind India's Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

The report cited Cebu's advantages such as availability of skilled workers and lower operational costs.

"There has been a constant flow of exploration (by investors) in the IT sector since early last year," said Belen, speaking via telephone from Cebu City.

As the BPO industry developed during the decade's first half, some of the biggest call centers expanded outside of Metro Manila and set up operations.

Outside of call centers, Cebu has also attracted investments in other areas like software development. Printer manufacturer Lexmark, for example, runs a research and development hub in Cebu employing around 600 workers.

"There have been more and more investments in these areas, both foreign and local (companies)," Belen said. "We expected this and it's really taking shape right now."

MANILA, Philippines -- If there is anything that sets the Filipino apart from other cultures in Asia Pacific, it is empathy or "malasakit" in the vernacular, the head of a research firm that recently conducted a study on the business process outsourcing industry in the Philippines.

"Empathy or malasakit is a Southeast Asian trait that we believe is becoming an advantage for Filipinos who are hired to man the growing BPO industry," said Cayetano Paderanga, Jr., chair of the Institute for Development and Economic Analysis (IDEA), in an interview.

IDEA was recently commissioned by Bayan Telecommunications Inc. (Bayantel) through its re-branded corporate solutions group Bayan Business, to study the outsourcing industry in the country.

Paderanga said their study found that the Filipinos' closer affinity with the Western culture has been one of the factors attracting US firms to locate its offshore operations in the country.

Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), agreed that many US-based firms outsource back-office, customer care and other offshore work to the country because of the Filipinos' closer affinity with the Americans.

"More than just speaking the English language, it's really about our understanding of the US market that attracts them," Uligan added.

But Brigs Merin, head of Bayan Business, pointed out that BPO firms are locating in the Philippines not only because of cost issues, but also because of the "quality" of skilled workers in the country.

Meanwhile, Paderanga said IDEA's study shared the same findings of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines' (BPAP), which said that the local industry has to address supply issues since demand is already growing.

BPAP is an umbrella organization of outsourcing firms in the Philippines.

"The growth of the local outsourcing industry is accelerating. Almost all segments are growing, except the medical transcription industry, which is hurting from the currency fluctuation," Paderanga said.

He stressed that IDEA's study also showed the need to address "supply issues" and enhancing the quality of workers that would eventually be focusing on more niche markets like knowledge process outsourcing.

"We still need to improve our schools to respond to the requirements of the industry. And I believe we should start in high school," he suggested.

For 2007, about 15 percent of the global offshore outsourcing industry, mainly those coming from the business process outsourcing and the information technology outsourcing segments, is now being exported. This business is worth $1.067 trillion, the IDEA study said, citing industry sources. It said that the Philippines has only captured about 2 percent of that market.

In its roadmap, the BPAP, for its part, aims to grow industry revenues from $3.3 billion in 2006 to $13 billion by the end of the decade.

Also based on consulting firm McKinsey and Company's projections, the "addressable" BPO market worldwide is valued at $450 billion but the market will amount to $130 billion by 2010. McKinsey was commissioned by BPAP to do a study to help the organization draft its roadmap.

BPAP aims to increase the industry workforce to one million by 2010, its roadmap said.

MANILA, Philippines -- Local game developers are looking to ride the outsourcing wave and likewise get juicier contracts from overseas.

The global gaming industry is predicted to become a $30-billion market by 2010, according to Gabby Dizon, president of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines.

As an industry, gaming has evolved into several sub-sectors and closely related to animation and graphics design.

The main industry, though, remains the development of games (for gaming consoles or for the Internet) although the same principles apply to e-learning and even corporate training services.

"There is a lot of business to be made. Advergaming (or advertising inside games) has been getting bigger and bigger," Dizon said during a briefing.

Next month's e-Services conference marks the first participation of gaming as an industry, alongside other segments within BPO (business process outsourcing) such as call centers, software development and medical transcription.

The local game industry is smaller compared to these other segments. According to Dizon, also president of Flipside Games, local game development companies employ only about 300 workers.

"We are what can be considered as a start-up industry. But we are slowly growing and we hope to attract more foreign game publishers to locate here in the country," he said.

He also cited the popularity of online gaming locally as something that encourages software developers to work in the gaming industry.

MANILA, Philippines -- The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) are set to sign a memorandum of agreement related to the implementation of a scholarship fund.

The scholarship was promised by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

BPAP CEO Oscar Sanez confirmed that the association, Tesda officials, and Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III will sign the agreement next week.

Sanez said the agreement is related to an earlier commitment made by Macapagal-Arroyo who has promised to allocate P350 million in scholarships for the training of some 70,000 potential workers for the BPO industry, through the help of Tesda.

A staff from the public information office of Tesda has confirmed next week's briefing with BPAP.

"[The MOA] is a good way to announce that we have a stronger [government] support for training for the BPO industry," Sanez said.

The scholarship is part of the PGMA Training for Work Scholarship Program (PGMA-TWSP).

According to Tesda's website, Macapagal-Arroyo made this commitment during the November 4, 2007 launch of Offshoring and Outsourcing Phillippines: Roadmap 2010 by the BPAP at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel.

The scholarship program allows near hires to improve their chances of finding a job after they undergo a training funded by the PGMA-TWSP scholarship program. Vouchers are provided to these potential hires, which in turn are trained by Tesda-accredited institutions.

The public information office said that Tesda provides vouchers to training institutions, which are expected to have a minimum of 50 percent employment rate.

Sanez said that the BPAP will work closely with Tesda in the management of the vouchers, which will be provided to different sectors represented in BPAP.

"We have agreed on the procedures," Sanez added, noting that this was part of the association's roadmap.

According to Tesda, the PGMA-TWSP administered by TESDA has graduated for the BPO sector a total of 37,300 call center agents, 49 percent of whom have found jobs; 5,000 medical transcription jobs at 54 percent employment rate; and 230 software developers, 81 percent of whom became employed. These figures covered a 17-month period from May 2006 to September 2007.

BPAP hopes that the Philippines can capture as much as 10 percent of the global market and quadruple revenues to $13 billion. This increase is expected to raise total direct employment to 900,000 or an increase of more than 600,000 jobs, as well create 1.2 million to 1.5 million more new indirect jobs, Tesda said quoting BPAP.

MANILA, Philippines -- With a booming domestic IT market, India represents a viable market as well for local business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, according to the head of local industry group BPAP.

A recent Gartner report forecast India's IT services to reach nearly $11 billion, driven by the adoption of new technologies being outsourced by large companies.

Rather than running data center monitoring or software development in-house, Gartner said Indian companies would rather outsource them to a service provider.

This trend favors countries like the Philippines; especially IT services companies that have traditionally relied upon overseas clients for business. India could be a potential market outside of the United States and Europe.

Oscar Sanez, chief executive of the Business Process Association of the Philippines, believes the country is in a very good position to take advantage of this trend given the "smooth" relationship between India and the Philippines, in the field of business process outsourcing or BPO.

In a telephone interview, Sanez noted that a few local companies have already started going to India in pursuit of lucrative BPO opportunities.

The Ayala Group, through its BPO unit LiveIT Solutions, recently announced its $25-million acquisition of Affinity Express, a company based in Pune, India that provides outsourced graphic services.

On the other hand, Sanez said recent investments made by Indian companies in the country is a good indication of the collaboration that exists between both countries.

Sanez predicts more Filipino companies will be looking to have a presence in India this year, adding: "We are as welcome in India as they are welcome here in the Philippines."

MANILA, Philippines -- IPVG Corp.'s offer to acquire a majority stake in PeopleSupport could signal an acquisition spree by local players that want to get into or expand their BPO services globally, according to an industry analyst.

IPVG announced Monday an unsolicited offer to acquire PeopleSupport at $15 per share or a total valuation of $355 million. PeopleSupport confirmed it received IPVG's offer on the same day.

"IPVG obviously recognizes the need to bolster its service offerings to become a broader IT-enabled player and create a stronger presence in the global market. These acquisitions of call centers, along with others, are evidence of a commitment by IPVG to expand its capabilities," said Lauro Vives, founder and CEO of XMG International.

US-based PeopleSupport employs around 8,000 workers in facilities located in Metro Manila, Cebu City and Baguio City.

IPVG already runs its own BPO unit in IP-Contact Center Outsourcing (IP-CCO), which resulted from its acquisition earlier this year of call center operator Global Stride. IP-CCO currently has some 300 workers.

"Before 2009, there will be a critical vacuum of available call center, IT and engineering talent in the Philippines to meet the demands of companies in the Philippines," Vives said responding to questions from INQUIRER.net via email.

Vives stressed: "Therefore, acquisition is a viable strategy that can create rapid entry and sustainable competitive advantage."

PeopleSupport, he said, has the characteristics of a potential target "whose buyer is looking to gain economies of scale and time, global presence and management experience within their specific segment of the IT-enabled industry."

For the next three years, Vives predicts other companies in the Philippines ("even if acquisition has not been traditionally their business dogma") to go on an acquisition spree to meet competitive pressures of scaling up and meeting operational requirements.

Vives, however, pointed out that "rapid" acquisitions, such as in the case of IPVG and PeopleSupport, require execution and coordination -- a tall objective for merging companies.

"Research from our corporate advisory practice show that more than 85 percent fail to meet business objectives announced at the time of the acquisition," he said.

He added: "Even as a poster child for the local industry that is going global, IPVG will not be exempted in ensuring that the proposed acquisition of PeopleSupport at $355 million provides the synergistic products and services and more important, the market valuation for stakeholders."

MAKATI City, Philippines -- Competing venture capitalists are forming an association to help jumpstart technology startups in the Philippines.

Francisco "Paco" Sandejas, managing partner of Narra Venture Capital, said the Philippine Venture Capital & Private Equity Association also hopes to advocate the idea that money is available to Filipino companies who can innovate.

Among the venture capital firms in the association are ICCP Ventures Partners, Aureous, Narra Venture Capital, AO Capital, among others, Sandejas said.

Sharing his experiences as a venture capitalist during an Innovation Forum organized by the Brain Gain Network, Ayala Technology Business Incubator and PESO, Sandejas said the venture capitalists are still looking for local ideas to fund.

Listing down areas they are interested in, Sandejas stressed that while they are looking out for tech companies that have compelling products, they are now considering startups in low-value services.

"That seems to be a change of tone for me," said Sandejas as he explained to a roomful of entrepreneurs that Narra Ventures has been interested in investing in high-value tech products.

For the local market, Sandejas said there are opportunities in enterprise software, mobile applications, e-commerce, cable TV, novel communications, online social networking, online news, online gambling and games, among others.

He also identified the integration of imported hardware and software for companies and providing IT infrastructural needs for schools, government and companies as well as offering wireless communications for lower income consumers as other markets in the country that have yet to be fully exploited.

In the global market, Sandejas said the hot markets are mobile and web services -- also popularly known as Web 2.0, open source software development and service, customized information systems for developing countries, Internet software infrastructure technologies, RFID (radio frequency ID) systems and location based systems, specific embedded software, and offshore semiconductor design services.

Venture capitalists such as Narra Ventures are also specifically interested in tech startups with good material science background.

Narra Ventures is also looking at investing in companies involved in developing thin client solutions, embedded software development, software as a service, and optical and wireless network infrastructure and services.

Sandejas also shared how other venture capitalists are investing in the country.

ICCP Venture Partners, for instance, has invested in Remec Broadband Wireless, a supplier of integrated microwave and milliwave subsystem solutions for the telecommunications market, and www.directwithhotels.com, a provider of online hotel booking services to small- and medium-sized chain and independent hotels.

AO Capital Partners, which has been managing private equity funds for investments in Asia-based companies, has invested in IPVG Corp., which runs several businesses in communications, business process outsourcing and gaming, among others. It also invested in Cebu-based Morph Labs, a Web 2.0 technology firm pushing the software-as-a-service business model for open source software.

Aureous Capital, a global private equity fund manager, has invested in software company Vinta Systems, which has developed a software product applying artificial intelligence to systems custom-built for the advertising and banking industries. Among the co-founders of Vinta Systems is Filipino Peter Valdes, who also co-founded Tivoli systems that was later sold to IBM. Other investors in Vinta are SSI, and Phinma with Sandejas as an independent director.

MANILA, Philippines -- The road to one million outsourcing jobs in 2010 is not as easy as government and the private sector would have thought.

In an interview, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III said the outsourcing industry demand is expected to grow by 50 percent year-on-year for the next three years.

With that demand, government led by the CICT and the Department of Trade and Industry Regional Operations Group, in tandem with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) are now identifying more than 20 cities where they can develop and recruit more talent.

These three groups are now working to push these cities as part of a strategy to "expand" the local outsourcing industry outside of Metro Manila, Chua said.

"We want to establish regional information and communications technology hubs so that not all the businesses are just going to Metro Manila," the CICT executive said.

In 2007, the local outsourcing industry created 300,000 jobs. The local industry, in particular the BPAP, aims to hit one million jobs by 2010.

"That's a pretty lofty objective. That's why we really need to tap into these other sources of talent," Chua said.

There is now a scorecard being used to evaluate regional hubs in the country. The score card looks at the talent pool, infrastructure, cost and the business environment in these cities.

The government will come up with a ranking of the cities soon. The government has released 16 cities, including Metro Manila as regional ICT hubs.

"The biggest issue is still talent. We really need to work with the industry and the academe because in 2007 there were more jobs than people to fill them," he said.

The BPAP and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) signed an agreement recently to implement a scholarship fund promised by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. The agreement is related to a commitment made by Macapagal-Arroyo who promised to allocate P350 million in scholarships for the training of some 70,000 near-hires or potential workers for the BPO industry, through the help of Tesda. The scholarship is part of the PGMA Training for Work Scholarship Program (PGMA-TWSP).

MANILA, Philippines--THE LOCAL business process outsourcing sector is poised for a windfall as an international survey of IT professionals in global companies indicates increased spending in outsourcing amid a weak economy this year.

Based on Nasdaq-firm Syntel Inc.'s TrendScan survey, 52 percent of the respondents said their companies would increase spending to accomplish more with less resources.

Syntel is a Michigan-based provider of integrated information technology and business process outsourcing services.

Conducted from Nov. 15 to Dec. 20 last year, the survey asked: "If the financial markets continue to struggle into 2008, how do you think it will affect your firm's spending on global outsourcing?"

Respondents, who numbered at least 250, belong to Fortune 1000 companies that Syntel regularly polls to track the forces driving global IT trends and issues.

Of those polled, 28 percent said firms would spend less to conserve budgets and 19 percent said spending would be about the same as last year.

Syntel chair and CEO Bharat Desai, in a statement discussing the survey's results, said outsourcing was one industry that would not be battered by the crisis in the credit markets.

"In a weak or uncertain economy, companies look for technology solutions that will increase productivity, efficiency and savings," Desai said.

"At the same time, investing in innovation becomes critical for companies to survive in consolidating or shrinking markets," he added.

Further, the CEO said Syntel was not surprised to see that over half the respondents in the survey plan to increase their spending in 2008 despite threats of a sluggish economy.

"Outsourcing is a hedge against general IT costs and can be a strategic component of research and development," he explained.

Meanwhile, the local industry is set to leverage the country's attractiveness as a BPO destination through the latest of the yearly e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition to be held on Feb. 11-12 at the SMX Convention Center.

According to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, the highlight of this year's e-Services would be innovations, especially in software development, as well as the next wave BPO cities across the country.

These include so called e-hubs in the regions of Cordillera-Ilocos, Central Luzon, Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Davao-General Santos.

In another study made by international outsourcing advisor Tholons, Cebu City ranked No. 4 among the "Top 50 Emerging Outsourcing Cities" worldwide.

Aside from Cebu, which trails three Indian cities, other Philippine cities in the Top 50 were Pasig (23) and Baguio (36).

At the same time, Metro Manila was named among the Top 5 established BPO destinations in the world, making it an "obvious choice" among investors.

Further, the study found that Metro Manila and Cebu City were among the top picks for contact center services as well as finance and accounting.

Metro Manila was also found to be a top choice for legal services while Cebu City excelled in human resources.

MANILA, Philippines--The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) says it has raised $3 million to finance its efforts to recruit 600,000 more workers by 2010.

Fred Ayala, BPAP chairman, said the trade group raised the amount from among its members and that part of the amount went into funding a study by global consulting firm McKinsey and Co. in support of an industry roadmap.

It will also finance programs by BPAP designed to meet its primary goals: increasing worker supply and developing key cities nationwide that can accommodate further BPO investments.

"The main issue is not demand, but supply. It's a better problem to have," said Ayala, who is also CEO of LiveIT Solutions, the holding firm of the Ayala Group for its outsourcing-related businesses.

In its roadmap, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said it aims to grow industry revenues from $3.3 billion in 2006 to $13 billion by the end of the decade.

Based on McKinsey's projections, the "addressable" BPO market worldwide is valued at $450 billion but the market will amount to $130 billion by 2010.

BPAP is also aiming to increase the industry's workforce to one million by 2010.

The country produces some 300,000 college graduates every year but BPAP's CEO Oscar Sañez said this can still be further improved, taking note of high "drop out" rates among schools.

"If we could retain those who enrolled in their first year and have them graduate, that could easily add almost a million into the worker supply," he said.

Also, he added there is still a need to counter negative perception about working for call centers and BPO companies.

"There are companies that have partnered with universities introducing BPO courses. We need to bring this to an industry-level," Sañez said.

MANILA, Philippines -- Balanga, Cainta, Legazpi and Urdaneta are the latest to be added into the government's list of cities groomed as investment destinations for business process outsourcing (BPO).

Representatives from each of these four cities presented the respective local initiatives at the ongoing eServices conference.

Since 2005, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has included about 45 so-called "next wave" cities list.

The Commission on ICT (CICT), meanwhile, has certified 20 of these cities as ICT hubs, based on criteria such as worker supply, telecom infrastructure and other factors necessary to sustain a local BPO industry.

The goal of this campaign is to expand the BPO industry nationwide in anticipation of further investments from the global market.

"We are not concerned about demand. It's the competitiveness we want to maintain," said CICT chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua, in a briefing.

The BPA/P (Business Process Association of the Philippines), which is working with DTI and CICT, is targeting to grow industry revenues from $5 billion (as of 2007) to at least $12 billion by 2010.

Cebu and Davao were among the first to be recognized by the DTI as investment destinations outside of Metro Manila. Since then, Cebu has attracted more 30 investors (including Accenture, IBM and India's Wipro) while Davao currently has seven locators (including call centers PeopleSupport and Link2Support), according to DTI's report.

Overall, there are at least 90 companies that either invested or expanded their operations in these cities, according to DTI.

MANILA, Philippines--The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) aims to certify at least 30 outsourcing "hubs" by 2010, according to its chairman, Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III.

Under the government's Cyberservices Corridor project, the CICT has assessed and identified 20 key cities or areas ideal for BPO investors based on the supply of workers, real estate, telecommunications infrastructure, among other criteria.

"We are working closely towards that goal and we are encouraging investors to look outside of Metro Manila," Roxas-Chua said in a briefing Monday by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

According to BPAP, about 80 percent of outsourcing activity in the country right now is within Metro Manila. BPAP's goal is likewise to identify the "next wave cities" to accomodate foreign investors and generate some 600,000 more jobs in the next three years.

Aside from Metro Manila, BPO firms have either located or expanded their operations in cities like Cebu and Baguio. Over the last few years, other cities like Davao, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Dagupan and Bacolod have attracted investments.

The following are the 20 cities or areas identified by the CICT as ideal for BPO investors: Metro Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Davao, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Bohol, Clark, Sta. Rosa, Lipa, Legazpi, Naga, Rizal, Bacolod, Cabanatuan, Dagupan, Subic, Cavite and Tacloban.

The CICT is working with Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) regional offices and local government units in doing its assessment. "We would like to be the coordinating body for investors in need of government assistance," Roxas-Chua said.

Monchito Ibrahim, a consultant for the CICT working on this initiative, is confident the commission will achieve its goal of identifying 30 to 35 BPO hubs even before 2010.

"The response from LGUs and the local private sector is very good. They realize the employment potential the BPO industry can generate," he said.

MANILA, Philippines -- Aside from Wipro, more Indian companies are expected to set up operations in the Philippines to counter rising costs in India.

Software company Wipro earlier announced it recently opened a customer service site in Cebu City, looking to employ 900 workers in the province.

Oscar Sanez, head of industry group Business Process Association of the Philippines, (BPAP) expects more Indian outsourcers to invest in the Philippines. He also confirmed Wipro's "soft" opening in Cebu.

"We have been talking to a number of Indian companies since early last year including Wipro," Sanez said via phone interview.

BPAP last year hosted a delegation from India's National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in a visit to Manila.

Kiran Karnik, who was head of NASSCOM before stepping down last December, advocated cooperation between India and the Philippines to gain a bigger share of the global offshore outsourcing market. Since then, a number of Indian companies like HTMT and now Wipro have opened operations in the country.

Sanez expects at least three more Indian companies to set up operations in the Philippines this year.

"These are definitely among the top 10 companies in India right now," he said.

Investment advisory firm Tholons said in a recent report that Manila was among the top five prime outsourcing locations. Cebu, meanwhile, was also ranked one of the top emerging destinations for outsourcing firms, behind India's Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

The study cited the availability of skilled professionals and lower costs as among the advantages offered by such destinations as Cebu.

MANILA, Philippines -- The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) is collaborating with two key government agencies to develop more ICT hubs that can accommodate outsourcing-related investments.

BPA/P, an umbrella group covering different segments within BPO, announced it will sign a memorandum of agreement on Thursday with the Commission on ICT (CICT) and the Department of Trade and Industry-Regional Operations Group (DTI-ROG).

DTI undersecretary Carissa Cruz-Evangelista and CICT chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua will represent their respective agencies in the MOA signing.

This collaboration is aligned with BPA/P's target to grow industry revenues to at least $12 billion and add more than half a million more workers by 2010.

According to BPA/P, the partnership with the government will cover the following initiatives:

*developing an industry-wide outsourcing and offshoring "scorecard" which would identify each location's capabilities in terms of human resource, business environment, ICT infrastructure, telecommunications cost, real estate, etc.

*institutionalizing the ICT councils within these designated hubs representing the private sector and local government units

*creating ICT strategic plans for these hubs, strengthening their available ICT resources, developing niches/centers of IT excellence, and assisting in marketing and promotional efforts

The overall goal is to generate more revenues for the industry and employment opportunities in the provinces.

Under the current administration's CyberServices Corridor project, the CICT has already identified some 35 locations nationwide that can be developed into ICT hubs.

MANILA, Philippines -- After being ranked as one of the world's top cities for outsourcing, Cebu City is now the model other cities want to emulate in attracting investments in the lucrative BPO sector.

A recent ranking released by Tholons Globalization Services puts Cebu City behind Indian cities Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune in its list of Top 50 emerging cities for outsourcing.

In particular, the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for IT (or CEDF-IT) is spearheading a recently formed national body composed of similar IT "councils" in other cities whose goal is to similarly grow BPO investments.

Industry group BPAP recently formed a partnership with the CICT and DTI in mobilizing such provincial IT councils to help promote BPO in so-called "next wave" cities that can accommodate further investments from foreign players.

CEDF-IT, a consortium of Cebu's academe, private sector and also NGOs, led the formation of national federation of IT councils from other cities in the South including Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Iligan and General Santos.

"Among themselves, they were able to form synergies and match the requirements of the private sector with the academe, for example, in harnessing enough talent to fill up BPO jobs," said Monchito Ibrahim, a consultant for the CICT's Cyberservices Corridor project, which aims to create these ICT hubs.

From the initial meeting in Cebu City two weeks ago, CICT is now encouraging more cities to join the initiative.

"We are also encouraging other cities like Dagupan (Pangasinan) and Cainta (Rizal) to join this initiative," Ibrahim said in phone interview. "However, this is not a CICT initiative. These IT councils are being driven by schools, local government officials and other stakeholders."

In spreading investments into other cities outside Metro Manila, the goal is to likewise spread employment opportunities. At the same time, this gives investors more options on where to set up their BPO operations.

"Metro Manila is already very crowded and there is always that danger of poaching from competing players, which is doing the industry more harm than good," Ibrahim said.

In its roadmap, BPAP is targeting industry revenues of $12 billion and increasing the total workforce to a million people. The BPO sector currently rakes in about $4 billion in annual revenues and employs around 300,000 workers.

MANILA, Philippines -- Microsoft Philippines' newly-appointed managing director believes the company is in a "good position" to take advantage of a robust local economy brought on by emerging markets like outsourcing and rising consumer buying power.

Rafael "Pepeng" Rollan said the US-based software company categorizes the Philippines among "emerging markets."

"We are at par or even better than other emerging markets like Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand," he said in an interview with INQUIRER.net

To support his healthy forecasts, Rollan noted as major factors the development of the outsourcing sector and a healthy consumer market partly due to remittances from overseas Filipino workers.

Rollan, who previously headed Microsoft's enterprise group segment, also pointed to company's initiatives in that particular market segment. Microsoft has announced it will launch the next corporate version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, early next year.

"We will be launching a number of server products. We are also launching unified communications, which we believe will do for the enterprise...how e-mail became a phenomenon back in the 90s," Rollan said.

Microsoft last week announced the launch of Office Communications Server, which adds multimedia tools like instant messaging and IP telephony to the Microsoft Outlook e-mail client.

Asked to narrow down any problems that Microsoft's local office is currently facing, Rollan replied that there were three "challenges" in the Philippine market: piracy, lack of skilled IT workers and low PC penetration.

"There's a recent study that shows a direct correlation between piracy levels and the flow of investments in the country," he said, citing a study released by the Business Software Alliance industry group, of which Microsoft is a member.

Rollan said: "High piracy levels have a impact on investments. We continue to educate our partners and customers on intellectual property rights."

To help increase PC penetration in the country, he said Microsoft is working with the government and the academe in making the company's software more affordable. Microsoft has introduced Windows Starter edition, a version of its core OS that, according to him, is about half of the standard version's price.

"We expect this [Windows Starter] to become mainstream by next year in its intended markets," he said.

On Windows Vista, he said the latest version of Windows is gaining traction "despite issues on its affordability and common perception about the OS." He added: "Slowly but surely, the adoption of [Windows] Vista locally is how we forecast it to be."

Rollan says he is Microsoft Philippines' seventh managing director, replacing Antonio "TJ" Javier.

INFORMATION technology governance -which includes ensuring information security within organizations - is becoming a top concern for businesses, an IBM executive has said.

At least 43 percent of chief financial officers in an IBM study consider IT governance a top priority, Peter Rajnak, solutions manager for security of the IBM Software Group for the ASEAN region, said during a briefing in Manila.

For the last two years, companies cited data protection, policy and regulatory compliance, and identity theft as the critical security issues, the IBM executive added, noting a CS/FBI study done in 2006.

Citing figures worldwide, Rajnak said that about 50 percent of company security breaches are internal attacks and that 90 percent of these "inside breaches" are done by privileged users.

Privileged users are usually those given access to sensitive information, which is not only limited to IT personnel.

The motives for internal attacks are usually tied to revenge and "negative events" within the organization, he said.

"Internal attacks cost 6 percent of gross annual revenues worldwide. In the US alone, internal breaches have amounted to $400 billion worth of damages," the IBM executive said.

Rajnak said that compliance with regulatory requirements had also become part of IT governance, along with security issues.

"Before it was more about security issues. But today it is about compliance, compliance, and compliance," he said.

BAGUIO CITY--An experimental call center course developed by a business outsourcing firm has graduated its first batch of students.

The University of the Cordilleras (UC), the first school to test the Sitel Philippines-designed course in communications and technology application, honored 68 business management students who officially passed the course during graduation rites last August.

Sitel is also preparing to tie up with the University of Baguio (UB), which has obtained credentials for a specialized call center curriculum it plans to offer this year, the Inquirer learned.

Dr. Leonarda Aguinalde, dean of the UC college of business administration, said Sitel has been negotiating for partnerships with Baguio schools to secure a labor force once it expands.

Sitel president Danilo Reyes told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the firm plans to expand its call center services to include technical or marketing response systems for engineers, lawyers and doctors based overseas.

He said the Sitel course module would be offered as an elective for students, who want firsthand training in Sitel working processes.

Aguinalde said partnership arrangement with Sitel is ideal for universities because it opens doors to the $49-billion global industry.

For many universities, call centers offer them the means to increase the employment rate for their graduates, she said.

"We can graduate a [hotel and management] student, but she can look around and realize there are no new hotels or restaurants being built [to accommodate new employees]. It's a condition [shared by] the rest of the country," Aguinalde said.

She said UC also benefits from the "added competence" that the Sitel program offers undergraduate and graduate school students.

Apart from the edge offered by the elective once the same HR student applies at Sitel, the firm's training course expands her vocabulary, "allowing her to match the job seekers who graduated from [the] Ateneo."

Aguinalde said she offered the Sitel test course as a free elective by converting the 300-hour internship requirement for business students to 300-hour sessions with Sitel trainers.

Aguinalde said most university graduates would still treat call centers as a vehicle for short-term or transitional employment.

This may explain the poor response to a special UC curriculum on call center technology and communication when the university offered it recently.

"We received the clearance from the Commission on Higher Education [to

MANILA, Philippines -- From simply selling storage machines, EMC Corp. is now betting on software and services to drive its business in the Philippines.

Software and services now account for 54 percent of EMC's worldwide revenues, according to Ron Goh, the company's head for Asia South.

"In Asia Pacific, the ratio is about 65-35 in favor of hardware," Goh said in an interview at the sidelines of EMC's industry end-user forum.

The past few years saw EMC acquiring several software companies to complement its information lifecycle management strategy.

Ronnie Latinazo, EMC's country manager for the Philippines, noted that hardware now contributes less than half to its local business.

"In the past, services were largely hardware-driven," he said. "Software now allows us to be flexible in serving clients with heterogenous environments."

That means EMC's local client base now includes companies that use storage hardware from its competitors.

EMC also added local partners that support its software products are Legato, RSA Security and Documentum.

Latinazo also cited growing revenues from assessment and planning services for users setting up storage networks.

"EMC' s business in the Philippines has shown strong momentum in the last two years," said Goh, citing banking and telecom as primary markets.

He added EMC is also looking to grow its business in government, healthcare and retail.

MANILA, Philippines -- An official of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) wants to promote the business process outsourcing (BPO) mindset among businessmen at the provincial level.

George Kintanar, PCCI ICT committee chairman, has proposed the establishment of local ICT "chapters" among businessmen to different local chambers of commerce nationwide.

Kintanar is also chairman of the Philippine USA Business Club (PUBC), which links with Filipino business communities in the United States.

"The plan is for PCCI/PUBC to create and establish ICT local chapters for businessmen nationwide," Kintanar said in his proposal sent via email.

"PCCI/PUBC should already identify BPO champions in the local business chambers of commerce all over the country and create BPO training centers of excellence," he added.

He noted that the emergence of the Philippines as a BPO destination was driven by word-of-mouth from satisfied customers overseas.

While demand is still high and the market for outsourced services still valued at "trillions of dollars," Kintanar noted that the country needs to invest in training in order to keep up with the great demand.

According to him, the problem is compounded by the departure of qualified Filipino workers for other countries, reaching about a million for 2006 alone.

Kintanar said: "My earlier advise to local businessmen then was to invest in back office provisioning but now we should also include BPO training centers to support the huge demand for human resource in the sector."

As for marketing the Philippines to investors, he said the large population of Filipino Americans abroad can be tapped as a "steady and continuous supply of BPO marketing advocates."

"While back home we continue our national BPO training programs through the educational institutions of learning which PCCI/PUBC intends to spread at the grassroots level," he said.

BACOLOD CITY-The Philippine government will declare the New Bacolod-Silay and Iloilo airports as international gateways open to flights from neighboring Asian countries, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza said yesterday.

"We are declaring both airports international gateways because they conform to international standards. And if there are airlines that want to bring in international flights they can operate immediately," Mendoza said.

The two airports, he said, met standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao).

The P5.6-billion New Bacolod-Silay Airport in Barangay Bagtic, Silay, begins domestic flight operations today.

Declaring the airport an international gateway will bring progress to Negros Occidental, Mendoza said, citing as example the vicinity around the Cebu International Airport that has become an industrial zone.

"They are building two golf courses around the new Iloilo airport and declaring an area as an industrial zone," he said. Mendoza said the Kalibo airport that had been declared an international gateway now had daily flights from Korea, with some flights also coming in from China.

The Philippine government is also opening other airports, such as the Lagindingan Airport in Cagayan de Oro City, replacing the existing Cagayan de Oro and Iligan airports that are sitting on plateaus with very low cloud ceilings, Mendoza said.

The Lagindingan Airport is 40 kilometers from the Cagayan de Oro Airport and the Santa Barbara Airport in Iloilo is 22 km from Iloilo City.

Mendoza also disclosed that the Philippines would host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) transportation ministers meeting for 2008.

"The more international destinations we have, the better for the country because we are going to be competitive," he said.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) has approved one of two applications for the establishment of an Information Technology (IT) park in General Santos City, an official confirmed Thursday.

Ellorence Cruz, Board of Investments coordinator here, said Mabuhay Technopark Corporation was recently registered by the authority to develop the Mabuhay IT Park within the heart of the city.

"As the first IT park in the city, Mabuhay is set to take a leap that will mark GenSan's (General Santos) entry into the ICT sector," she said.

"Mabuhay is a private-led initiative, envisioned to be the shining landmark for the ICT business in city."

Cruz said the three-hectare project is set to be launched in January.

Operating in 24/7 fully-secured community, the zone will serve as a one-stop facility capable of carrying voice, video and data services that would deliver a superior, reliable and secured network communications and back-up power supply, Cruz said.

Complementing these will be the establishment of an incubation center consisting of nine "intelligent offices" (four small-sized of around 24 square meters, three medium-sized of about 35 square meters, and two large-sized of about 60-75 square meters each) and support facilities such as three conference facilities/training rooms, mini-exhibition hall, and a cafeteria.

Cruz said pending approval from the Peza is the application of Mindanao Polytechnic College to also establish a separate IT park in this city, dubbed as the "Tuna Capital of the Philippines."

She noted that with the approval of Mabuhay, locators in its park would get four to six years corporate income tax holidays.

Also, imported equipment that would be brought in to the park would be duty free, she added.

In the past few years, Gensan is positioning itself as an alternative Information and Communications Technology hub outside Metro Manila.

Dorecita Delima, Department of Trade and Industry-Central Mindanao deputy director, earlier said the IT parks will be getting assistance from the local government and the local Trade department office.

She added the IT parks will attract investors in the Business Process Outsourcing industry such as call centers, medical transcription, animation, architectural and engineering design, among others.

The local trade department office and the City Government have been conducting "E-business" week celebration in the past few years in a bid to drum up the ICT potentials of the locality.

Mayor Pedro Acharon, Jr. said the locality's advantage in luring BPO players are its "quality human resources, the low cost of doing business and the presence of needed support systems such as telecommunication, accommodation and infrastructure facilities."

"The city also offers incentives for all ICT investors. There are already transcription companies and independent software vendors that are operating in the city [who have availed of these incentives]," he said.

More training opportunities for people wanting to work for the outsourcing industry was sought from the Philippine government and the private sector.

The total number of people employed in the BPO industry has the potential to increase by nearly 200 percent to 920,764 in 2010 from the projected 343,013 this year.

According to NEDA Director General Romulo Neri, the BPO sector has the potential of becoming a big contributor to the overall growth of the economy if the country provides the amount of labor required by investors.

The outsourcing industry is also predicted to earn a gross revenue of more than $12 billion by 2010 from only a little about $3 billion last year.

The booming BPO industry was partly credited for the increase in foreign direct investments in the Philippines in 2006. From only $1.854 billion in 2005, FDI increased by 26 to $2.345 billion last year.

--from Inquirer.net