BACOLOD IS EYEING TO MOVE HIGHER IN THE 2011 TOP TEN NEXT WAVE CITIES RANKING

In the midst of the adverse reactions against the dissolution of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) is still expecting a positive mark for Bacolod should the score-carding program of “next wave cities” for 2011 push through.

BNEFIT is currently eyeing the top spot for Bacolod in this year’s evaluation. Last 2009, Bacolod was in the fifth place and moved two notches higher or in the third spot last year.

Speaking as its chair of BNEFIT, I am confident that this year will even be better because of what has transpired after the 2010 results especially in the area of human capital development and infrastructure. We made sure that these developments were evaluated for purposes of the 2011 ranking. But whatever the results will be, it is best to let everyone know of the reasons why Bacolod has a good chance to rank higher.

We have been consistently the highest among the Top Next Wave Cities for the business environment criterion especially with the support of local governments and the presence of BNEFIT, as a multi-stakeholder organization that promotes programs to attract IT-BPO investments.  

Today, the IT-business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in Bacolod has generated almost 10,000 direct jobs which translate to an annual salary of more than one billion pesos.

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the Business Processing Association of the Philippines and the Department of Trade and Industry are behind the annual ranking, which assesses a city’s (including its province and nearby cities) potential as an IT-BPO location in terms of human capital, costs of doing business, availability of real estate, reliability of telecommunications infrastructure, and business environment.

THE REASONS WHY WE ARE HOPEFUL

Among the reasons why we are confident of a positive ranking is the strong and clear show of desire by the provincial government to complement and reinforce the gains of Bacolod, which was achieved by the strong collaboration and cooperation of government, academe and the business and private sectors of the community.

The Negros Occidental provincial government has recently embraced its role as an enabler and a catalyst for growth to support the initiatives in Bacolod. Last June 2, 2011, Hon. Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr., Governor of Negros Occidental – called for the 1^st Negros Occidental ICT Summit which was a beginning of a series of initiatives that the provincial government will undertake. Marañon appointed me as former chair of the Bacolod IT Focus Team and current chair of BNEFIT,  as consultant for the Negros Occidental ICT Investments Program.

Recognizing that its capital city Bacolod has been cited as the 3^rd Next Wave City in the Philippines for 2010 and the Tholons International Top 100^th City in the world for outsourcing, the local stakeholders who attended the summit had identified strategies to involve everyone in the goal of making Bacolod and eventually, Negros Occidental among the best global services destinations in the world.

For its part, the Bacolod IT Focus Team chaired by Councilor Al Victor Espino has been closely coordinating with BNEFIT and the provincial government.

Local governments and the business sector of cities like Talisay, Silay, Bago, San Carlos and Kabankalan have been actively participating in provincial initiatives such at the recently-held Negros Occidental ICT Summit which is a preparatory session towards the creation of a three-year provincial ICT roadmap. The said roadmap is anchored on the recently-launched Philippine Digital Strategy 2011-2016 and the Philippine IT-BPO Roadmap 2016.

The local roadmap, just like its national counterparts, will seek improvement in the areas of e-governance, ICT education and trainings, enhanced broadband and real estate infrastructure and development of local ICT business throughout the province.

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

In the area of human capital, the provincial government’s contribution is the Negros Occidental Language and IT Center which provides bridging courses to address the skill gaps of graduates and the labor force in general.

Through BNEFIT and NOLITC, Negros Occidental and Bacolod were among the pilot sites of the BPAP National Competency Testing (BNCT) last April. The BNCT is an industry-initiated assessment program, which proactively generates industry-ready talents for the Philippine IT-BPO industry and standardizes the competency assessment system for applicants in the IT-BPO sector.

The goal of the provincial roadmap is likewise to involve the academe in developing strategies to further improve human resource especially for the non-voice sector of ICT and ICT-enabled services. The province is also bent on developing incubation programs within the province for software development, animation, game development, health information management, transcription and coding, and knowledge process outsourcing, among other things. In this way, we would be able to train and tap our graduates in the whole province and provide employment for the jobless.

GREAT LEAP IN REAL ESTATE AVAILABILITY

In the area of real estate, Bacolod only had a total of less than 10 hectares of presidentially-proclaimed IT economic zones accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) in the early part of 2010. Today, the figures have been multiplied five times.

With the new presidentially-proclaimed Northpoint Technohub, almost 13 hectares property of Ayala Land which is the first IT Park outside of Bacolod and the Two Sanparq building beside the One Sanparq location of Convergys.

For Bacolod, the three new large additions to the growing number of IT economic zones have been accredited by PEZA, but are still waiting for its presidential proclamations. These are in the north, the Central District IT Park, almost 12 hectares property in Lacson Street, Barangay Mandalagan accredited in August 2009 while in the south, the Grand IT Park in Araneta Street, Barangay Singcang, more than 14 hectares property, accredited last February 2010. The third site is the SM City property. The sites are still waiting for the concurrence of Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia.

The provincial government will likewise contribute to the real estate need with the establishment of the Negros First Cyberpark – a mixed use complex consisting of more than 12,000 square meters of space for IT-BPO services and several thousands more for support facilities such as restaurants, shopping areas, spa, banks and many others.

The other presidentially-proclaimed IT economic zones in Bacolod, are Luxur Plaza IT Centre, Monfort IT Center, San Antonio Park Square, The Block IT Park, Robinsons Cybergate IT Centre, Bacolod Information Technology Park, Lopue's East IT Center,  Lopue's South IT Center,  and St. Francis IT Centre.