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GOVERNMENT is partnering with the Business Processing
Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) in coming up with
a scorecard on the readiness of Philippine cities as
business process outsourcing (BPO) locations.
In a
related development, the European Chamber of Commerce of
the Philippines (ECCP) called for the creation of the
Department of Information and Communications Technology
(DICT) to serve as public-sector driver for the
country’s bid to generate an additional 600,000 jobs in
the BPO sector by 2010.
Henry
Schumacher, ECCP executive vice president, said the CICT
should be strengthened further and converted into the
DICT so it would be more effective in shepherding the
sector in coordination with the BPA/P.
“There
has to be a government body that will move in tandem
with the BPA/P. You can’t say that ICT and BPO is
important for you if the driver for the government is
not there,” he said.
The DICT,
Schumacher said, will give the government better focus
in achieving the 2010 target of creating employment for
one million people in the BPO sector.
The
scorecard will be developed jointly by the Department of
Trade and Industry-Regional Operations Group, Commission
on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), and
the BPA/P.
Trade
Undersecretary Carissa Cruz-Evangelista of DTI-ROG said
43 cities will be included in the initial assessment. Of
these cities, the Top 10 to 15 cities will be chosen and
referred to investors as highly capable of hosting BPO
firms.
The aim
is to distribute the operation of BPO firms from Metro
Manila to the other key cities in the country, she said.
In a
memorandum of agreement the three groups signed
Thursday, the DTI-ROG had committed to coordinate with
the local government units and the regional
administrative bodies in promoting strategic alliances
with foreign investors, balancing investments between
high growth and economically-depressed areas, and
broadening private sector participation in ICT
development.
The CICT
will provide technical assistance and facilitate the
development and use of the ICT scorecard through the
conduct of ICT trainings, workshops, and lectures to be
participated in by the DTI regional and provincial
offices, local government units, ICT councils and
private stakeholders.
The BPA/P,
on the other hand, will provide industry inputs to be
considered in the development of the ICT Industry
Strategic Plans of the regions.
The BPA/P
will also provide appropriate parameters in the
development of the ICT scorecard and subsequent updates,
as well as support the development of homegrown or small
and medium scale ICT enterprises in the regions. |
