IS CDO OVERTAKING DAVAO ?

I read this email from a reader with great interest. I think this should serve as a wake-up call and a real challenge to both the private sector and the government. We need to act and move fast!

Dear Ms Jojie Bian,
I'm one of the forumers in SSC or http://www.skyscrapercity.com/. And we have been promoting Davao City - its culture, sites, and business climate. As a forerunner, I have been active with other Philippine forums as well like those of Cagayan de Oro (CDO and Cebu. I'm currently living in Cebu now and working with the call center industry for 2 years now. Before transferring here in Cebu, I have been working with the same company in Makati as well.

I am so pleased with the good news which you have written and posted in http://www.inq7.net/ and http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/. It's about making Mindanao as an IT Hub.

However, one thing that is my concern though is how other cities are overtaking us now. I'll have to specifically stress out CDO for this matter. Just currently, Ayala did confirm the pursuance of their investment in CDO - which is a development of an Ayala Business Park! How did this happen? Why did Ayala decide to invest in CDO and not in Davao? I thought we are far more advance than CDO? I thought we are the premier city in Mindanao and its de facto capital? In this case, would this mean that CDO has overtaken us? Just as how Ayala became the catalyst of growth here in Cebu and in Makati, for sure this will boost CDO's economy....and where will we be (Davao) at that time?

Also, from your recent article "Mindanao as an IT Hub", you have mentioned about CDO's IT Park..why cant Davao have one? I am sure you are aware why Cebu's ICT industry is so upbeat...one of the major factors is the present of several IT parks and zones.

Madam, I adore your advocation to promote Mindanao. But sometimes I wonder, aren’t we from Davao been extending our help that much to other Mindanao Cities and thus forgot to help our own city first?

CDO has its own IT Park and now a business park! Davao? well we have a lot of plans that remained plans till now. I remember few years back (when i was still 19, now im already 23) I had also read an article written by you about almost the same issue...Making the island as an IT Hub. And there were talks to have the very first IT Park outside Cebu and Manila in Davao....But what happened? CDO has overtaken us.....

There are a lot of plans......the development of Sta Ana Wharf to become somewhat like the Fishermen's wharf in San Francisco, the ICT Park, the business parks, development of PTA Grounds to be like Greenbelt of Makati, the MRT, the coliseums, the Samal - Davao bridge, etc etc....but these till now (after almost 5 years) are still plans.

Madam, I thank God to know a Davaoeña like you whose goal is to promote Davao City. I wish there is something that we (the average Dabawenyos) can do to help. I do not want to wake up one day knowing that CDO has fully overtaken Davao.

From : "shealthiel jech oczon"

Mindanao As I.T. Hub: Part Two

Cyberservices is a new term that describes services delivered via cyberspace. These are information technology-driven services that include call centers, medical transcription, back office operations, and animation.

In the Philippines, call center services is the largest sector in the I.T industry, absorbing 63% of its total workforce. In just a few years, Philippines has strengthened its services from inbound customer support and outbound telemarketing to more technical support service such as computer hardware troubleshooting. We are currently at par with global standards, closely competing with India and China, while offering the best value. And as the sector grows to greater heights, large call center companies are expanding its reach across the nation, seeking for more competitive labor costs, and cheaper infrastructure and operational expenses in other cities aside from Manila, Angeles and Cebu - and southern Philippines is targeted as the next destination of growth.

But, is Mindanao ready?

In its recent report, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) projected that the call center sector will have to employ 388,000 agents to meet client needs in 2010. In order to deliver this, call centers should not limit their Mindanao activities on recruitment for relocation purposes alone. Setting base is inevitable considering the many perks in Mindanao cities, specifically the availability of cheaper and reliable power and communication infrastructure, less expensive cost of living, good incentives for I.T. companies, numerous vendor support, and transportation infrastructure.

Mindanao is also fast opening itself to advancement as it targets cyberservices to be the industry that will not only boost the economy, but will also secure its people from leaving home. In addition, redistribution of wealth, the return of talents, triggering of commercial activity, and attracting more investment from other sectors are significant, positive effects of call center presence in the provinces.

Local communities and its leaders recognizes Mindanao's potentials in providing call center needs in the near future. This sparked interests from various groups and business organizations to cooperate and unify in order to make Mindanao cities an attractive and suitable locations for the industry's growth.

Mindanao as the next I.T. Hub

Such widespread investment promotion campaign embarked by various Mindanao stakeholders, captured the interest of some of the well-known call centers causing them to visit major, Mindanao cities for expansion consideration. So far, Cagayan de Oro and Davao City pioneered by collectively attracting four call center operation set-ups in the city proper. My very own company, Joji Ilagan Foundation Inc., will be operating a state of the art training academy for call center agents and personnel in partnership with John F. Kennedy Foundation; and a Call Center projected to have 200 seats. This training academy will open start operating on April and the BPO contact center on June of this year. The training center will also ensure the continuous presence of skilled manpower to serve the needs of IT investors and BPO’s that intends to locate their businesses in Davao and the nearby cities like Gen. Santos.

Mindanao, with its skilled labor and quality of life, recognizes its capacity to deliver investor requirements in setting up call center operations. We produce competent professionals with excellent reasoning skills, English communication and computer skills, and workers flexible in various work environments. And of course, Mindanaoans are famous for being friendly, courteous and industrious individuals - a plus point in this line of work.

On the other hand, Mindanao has its own challenges and limitations. For one, not all cities have I.T. Parks and zones, and this discourages I.T. investors who seek additional incentives that an I.T. park/zone could offer, in addition to the flexible requirements it imposes. Most of the cities are yet to follow Cagayan de Oro's Pueblo de Oro IT Park, the first of its kind which houses an international call center.

There is no reason why Davao and Cagayan and the rest of Mindanao cannot become the IT hub for the Southern part of the country and of the East Asean region.

After all, everything else is in place - competent manpower and adequate communications and transportation infrastructures.

MINDANAO ICT: Full Blast in 2006

Expect this year that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Mindanao will be taking a massive leap to profitable and ever-expanding services. Similar to emergent and forward-looking economies, Mindanao is “upgrading” itself to be at par with the world’s best ICT applications. Its vision for competitiveness and modernization was evident during the 4th Mindanao ICT Congress, wherein various key players from the six regions gathered to address the need for innovative revolution in our ICT industry.

The congress focused on enhancing the rapid distribution of knowledge and information as means to finding its proper niche in the global village of the 21st century. Conducted in General Santos City last year, the successful gathering resulted to the passing of seven policy resolutions and the discussion on the several key issues of the industry.

One of the resolutions calls for both the public and private sectors to intensify the promotion of investments in the ICT sector in Mindanao. This cooperation is critical particularly in encouraging investors that Mindanao is peaceful, orderly and above else, ICT-ready. To support this marketing initiative, a resolution urging the Telecommunications Office (TELOF) to fast-track the establishment of 37 identified community e-centers (CeCs) and 42 e-LGU CeCs in Mindanao was presented. It specifies the generalized resolution calling for the expansion of rural connectivity in the Mindanao regions, specifically in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The stakeholders also urged concerned government agencies to develop the IT skills of Mindanao’s human capital and businesses. In this campaign, it was suggested that the Department of Education (DepEd) subsume effective computer applications in the curriculum of primary and secondary education. Likewise, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) were tasked to monitor IT schools and business process outsource companies to guarantee that graduates possess the skills acceptable to the ICT industry. Mindanao is targeting markets of contact centers, BPOs, animation, software development and medical transcription. Each sector demands different knowledge and skills, and therefore more education and training programs are needed in order to address the special labor requirements attached to it.

Open Source technologies gained a considerable amount of curious, or otherwise fearful, following at the second half of 2005, when authorities allegedly raided offices and internet shops for copyrights violations on operating systems. As such, the private sector began urging government agencies to mount an aggressive and widespread information drive to all ICT stakeholders about the nature and benefits of adopting Open Source technology for business operations. This is, in fact, a very attractive alternative for small businesses who could not afford the legal rights to utilize commercial systems, but could not afford to do without a computer. Open Source is not only free, but it’s the option for lawful business transactions for those who are tight on the company budget.

Overall, the successful 4th Mindanao ICT Congress highlighted the necessary inputs from all stakeholders in order to achieve the goal to make Mindanao the “Knowledge Center in the Asia Pacific” by 2010. Will we be able to keep up with the times? We will surely take it one step at a time, but for sure, Mindanao is getting there.

JOBS AND BUSINESS

The Regional Technical Education and Skills Development Committee (RTESDC) is the highest policy making body whose members come from both the private and public sector . This body is mandated to focus on the technical vocational education and training of human resource of the region together with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) The members of the committee are appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the sector they represent. So you will have business/industry, labor, academe, Local Government Unit , Departments of Trade and Labor, TESDA in the said body.

I had been chairing these committee for the past two (2) years and in yesterday’s meeting , we were given a presentation by TESDA X1 , headed now by OIC Urbano Budtan. The report was impressive – it clearly showed t that they had surpassed their targets significantly; but what is worth mentioning – is that they did all of these by using up only 60-65% of their budget. I believe that credit should be given to the TESDA regional and provincial leadership as well as to the personnel for their commitment , dedication and efficiency. Seldom can we find such accomplishments among our government agencies !

For the record, TESDA had trained over 70,000 people; assessed 14, 200 and had certified over 3,000. These figures simply informs us that these are the people who are “job-ready” and who will be out in the field in the search of companies and industries who will need their skills.

The World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland had just ended and one of the more important issues that was taken up was the mobility of labor or job seekers. Our overseas Filipino workers are fast increasing in numbers - from household work , entertainment, care-giving to infants and elderly to the field of nursing and medicine. Even our farmers , carpenters and fishermen are finding high-paying work in Japan.

The basic problem common to all under developed countries is job creation . And we all know that to achieve this – there must be investments and business . And for these economic activity to happen – transparent and supportive governance must be present.

One of the major reasons why people leave their country is when they could no longer find economic security; when workers are not empowered; and when they see that the “fields are greener “ on the other side. This is not solely a Philippine problem; this is also common to other less developing countries. Migration is one of the major political problem today. It can even pose as a security threat or risk for other countries. How then can we stop people from moving from one country to the other ?

In order to entice our people to stay and work here ; it is but logical that we have to provide them with an environment that will provide them both the economic and social security that they want. We all know that the strongest mover of the economy is private enterprise/business. They have to be allowed to grow and to expand through government policies that are business friendly; policies that are productive; open markets; reasonable taxes; sensible and relevant regulations. Honestly, this does not happen often. I really cannot understand why government , most of the time, enacts legislation, executive orders, memorandums which are irrelevant and adds more red tapes and bureaucracy. Government has a way of making something so simple – so difficult and complicated. I hope that this year of the fire dog will be better. The dog is man’s best friend ; so let’s hope government can be “friendlier” to business!

Mindanao have a vast resource of human capital that is highly skilled and educated. These can be attested by our employment rate of 92% for 2005 and a low of 8.23% unemployment rate. It was only the agriculture sector which posted a positive growth in employment ; both services and industry were on the negative trend.

It would be good to see a paradigm shift in the year(s) to come ; where Mindanawans will no longer “jump to the other side of the fence “ because the “pastures are greener” right here.

MINDANAO BUSINESS TACKLES POPULATION MANAGEMENT

Population management has been a major initiative of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry(PCCI) and selected chambers of commerce in Mindanao (Davao , Dipolog, Gen. Santos and Tawi Tawi) as well as in Luzon and the Visayas. It was felt that business intervention was needed to address the burgeoning problems that our excessive population growth stimulates. More importantly, population management offers us a new horizon to look at new methodologies in improving firm productivity and competitiveness. PCCI understands the effects of population growth and the part it plays in the Philippines’ development and growth of business. It aims to understand how population growth affects workers’ productivity and the necessary interventions to improve employer-employee relations.

In 2000, Mindanao had a population of 18,233,715 and is projected to increase by 2.11% in 2005 or 20,289,100. Region 11 is seen to be the area with the highest population increase in 2005 at 12.73% ; from 5,189,335 in 2000 to 5,905,254 in 2005. This is followed by Region 13 or CARAGA at 2,244,562 (11.99%) ; Region 1X at 3,526,566 (11.83%) and Reg X11 at 2,972,733 (11.72%).

Surprisingly the lowest projection for increase in population is at the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao ; from 2,412,159 in 2002 to 2,366,232 in 2005 or an increase of 8.18 % . This must be the result of the efforts to provide greater access to education and health services in the ARMM.

Mindanao data in 2000 would show that poverty incidence to population was 44.26% in 1997 and it went up to 46%; per capita poverty threshold was P10769.00 and per capita food threshold at P 7,434.00. The average annual income in 2000 was P 96,978.00 and expenditures was P 78,803.00. These figures are all affected by the rate of population – more people will call for more available jobs , more food and more of everything. Growth of business and economy should be much higher than increase in population so that life will be better for all.

Looking closely, population determines significant economic indicators such as labor productivity, economic growth, and prevalence of diseases, well-being of women and children, mortality, and poverty.

Businessmen in key centers of Mindanao now understand the implications of a high population rate and its profound impact on the sustainability of business. With the strong support of PCCI and its partners – more notably the Philippine Center for Population Development (PCPD) and PRISMS-USAID Programs , we were able to encourage nationwide participation in population management activities.

These activities include planning workshops, training modules, and seminars which bring information and spur activities in each of the area. The idea is to help individuals and couples to come up with an informed decision and to exercise their freedom of choice.

PCCI will be conducting a nationwide consultation all over the country specifically in drafting the criteria and terms of reference for a nationwide award and recognition for all levels of business that implements or conducts a population management program in the workplace. What is interesting is that this award will be open for even the small and medium sized firms , as well as the big multinational companies and industries.We hope to increase awareness through our program. These are baby steps that can eventually lead to a big leap.

The strategy that is being implemented in the region is three-pronged approach that include advocacy, linkages with service providers and setting up of common service facilities to cater to the eminent needs of SME workers and their families. This conventional approach enables local chambers to be self-sufficient as well as allowing them to develop innovative ideas to carry out tailor-fit programs to respond to their individual needs.

The Philippines still has a long way to go with respect to managing the country’s growing population. The common denominator, I guess amidst varied opinions among stakeholders in the society on this crucial issue, is the need to improve the living condition of some 30 million Filipinos in both urban and rural centers. Unless we see clear indications on how poverty in this country can be reduced substantially, then debates on population management are just as good as a lip service. We have to run programs that go beyond talks, we need policies that go beyond debates and we need champions to step beyond their call of duties, to become advocates for social change and progress.

Setting simple goals for ourselves like developing local chamber and infrastructure, personnel, and services can be considered a sizeable improvement. But, it’s not about doing extraordinary things – it’s doing things in an extraordinary way.

DAVAO… ALWAYS AT ITS BEST

Davao, today, is experiencing what it always has dreamt of. Throngs of visitors and tourists , both domestic and foreign , strolling in the peaceful streets of the city and enjoying every minute of it. The sales of the malls as well as the smaller stores and boutiques are a record high. The vendors selling candies and cigarettes, the taxi and jeepney drivers, the fruit stalls- all of them smiling from ear to ear because business is just too good!

This is the Davao that we all want. All the different sectors , had worked so hard, not only today, but as well as in the past years, so that we can continue to move forward to sustain peace and development in the city. We were never bothered by the often-times mistaken perception of others about our city- we continued to focus and strive harder to achieve our vision . And now all of our collective labor is starting to pay off .

What a good way to start the year ! The Chinese believes that if you start the year right.. the rest of the year will be “more than just right” The Asean Tourism Forum which started last week will be a big boost to our tourism industry. The event will surely put the name of our city in the minds of every tourist seeking for a destination that will provide him with a perfect blend of the rural and urban /metropolitan attractions and amenities.

I am now in Seoul, Korea for a very important business trip and the first greeting that I got from our partner here was “ How’s Davao ? The city must be so “noisy” now with that tourism event”. I told them that the city was “exploding” with activities and events and people running all over the streets. I am so proud of what is happening- more so because deep in my heart, I knew that what we are showing our visitors now is really what Davao is – with or without the big ASEAN event.

What we are projecting now to our thousands of guests , is not a “put on” or “ cosmetically enhanced”. For women, like me , these terminologies mean “artificial or something temporary” of which the main purpose is to “impress or to show something good or beautiful”.

Davao City, has and will always project the best of the city – the best of its people and attractions. People here are warm, friendly, kind and hospitable. This is the city where people take the time to greet each other with a smile, a kiss or a handshake ! Many of my friends from Manila would always comment that “ Davao is one big neighborhood” because everyone seems to know each other.

The business environment is conducive to those who want to invest here- the existence of a transparent governance leaves very little or no room for bureaucratic red tapes and corruption. Business transaction is virtually smooth and easy. The small and medium sized entrepreneurs will find the city a haven to make their money grow. The cost of real estate and manpower productivity continues to entice multi-national and big corporations to build their factories and plants here.

I am sure that all of our guests will go home taking a piece of Davao in their hearts. I can assure them that Davao will still be at its best and even better , when they return.