New IT Parks for Cebu City

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 Unknown 1 Comments

Advancements for the Queen City of the South have been formally disseminated.

12 new IT parks will be established in the Cebu province.

According to House Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo, a total of 63 new information technology (IT) parks are being developed nationwide, 41 of which are located in the provinces and 22 are located in the Metro Manila area.

In Cebu, 7 of the IT parks will be located in Cebu City while 5 will be located in Mandaue City. Similar IT parks will also be developed in the Negros Oriental province.

Congressman Romulo is in strong favour for the advancement of these IT parks in highly urbanized cities outside Metro Manila. In that way, it can boost the balanced economic growth all over the country, and not just contained in Metro Manila.

Romulo describes IT parks and BPO firms as powerful drivers of job creation, consumption and overall economic growth. Call centers in Cebu are the ones dominating its IT parks like Cebu Business IT Park and AsiaTown IT Park.

Romulo said that it would not be fair to let Metro Manila gain all the credit by locating all IT parks in the main city; thus, it is time to give other cities their own chance to achieve economical growth.

Adding support to the cause of promoting a balanced growth all throughout the country, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) has amended its incentives policies to support the growth of IT sectors in areas outside Metro Manila and Cebu.

In the resolution, Peza said that all IT facilities projects that will be located in the first four Peza-registered IT parks in Cebu and Metro Manila will no longer be entitled to incentives.

The following IT parks that will no longer grant the special 5 percent tax on rental income are as follows:

• Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City
• Northgate Cyber Zone in Muntinlupa City
• Robinsons Cyberpark in Mandaluyong City
• E-Square Information Technology Park in Taguig City
• Cebu IT Park in Cebu city

On the other hand, all IT facilities projects that are/will be established in Peza-registered IT parks outside Metro Manila and Cebu City will continue to enjoy the benefit of a special 5 percent tax on gross income and other fiscal incentives.

This amendment will ensure that the even distribution of IT establishments all over the country will be realized and make other highly urbanized cities be attractive to incentives, says Elmer San Pascual, head of the promotions group of Peza.

Furthermore, Peza will also no longer grant incentives to developers of economic zones who specialize in manufacturing, tourism or agro-industries, if their area is less than 25 hectares. Previously, Peza gave incentives to areas less than 25 hectares.

This is not considered a loss for Cebu City, since it is also a way of helping other highly urbanized cities have more investments. This amendment further indicates that Cebu has moved a step higher among other major cities and has the capacity to attract larger investments.

About the Author

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Publish on 10/23/2012
Jane is a freelance copywriter, with majority of her work focusing on the outsourcing industry.

• Stronger Peso vs. BPO?
• The Law That Will Make Investments
• You Can Breathe Easily in Cebu

Stronger Peso vs. BPO?

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 Unknown 6 Comments

It’s no longer a fight between Philippines and India, they said. It’s become a fight between Philippines and the peso.

But how could this be? How could Philippines’ own currency be the source of threat to one of its main drivers for economic growth? Irony seems to be at work here.

The Philippine BPO industry is the second dollar earning industry of the country, next to the OFW remittances. It is also one of the main propellers of the blossoming Philippine economy.

But the strengthening of peso threatens the Philippine BPO industry most especially that their main sources are from foreign investments.

Meanwhile, in India, their rupee is weakening, giving more strength to the dollar, thus more advantage for their degrading BPO industry. The depreciation of rupees means cheaper services and space rentals, compared to the strengthening peso, which indicates that salary rates and rental fees may rise.

Recruitment and migrations expert Lito Soriano said that the depreciation of India’s rupees is both an advantage and disadvantage to the Indians. Many Indian call centres will be forced to relocate back to India and Indians will have more confidence in competing with skilled manpower abroad since they can now offer cheaper rates.

Back to the peso, it doesn’t only affect the Philippine BPO industry, but also the families of OFWs who largely rely on the remittances from their family member/s abroad. Families will have to lessen their expenditures, and might even have to sacrifice educational plans, since the dollar is now only P41.75, a big leap from P55 last 2004.

The peso’s current status also affected the overseas recruitment, where skilled OFWs demand an increase in salary to offset the loss of value of the dollar.

But the call center industry of the country is still confident that they are competitive enough, even if the peso is threatening to cut their profit margin.

Benedict Hernandez, the president of the Contact Centre Association of Philippines (CCAP), said that they are carefully monitoring the exchange rate, but it is not yet a concern for most of the call centers right now.

A stronger peso usually threatens Philippine companies who export goods and services, but not for the call centre industry of the country. The quality of service that the Filipinos possess will ensure the country’s outsourcing industry to remain on top of the ladder for voice services.

CCAP Exec. Director Jojo Uligan said the recent peso appreciation is not alarming. But if the peso trades below 41 against the dollar, it will be disastrous for call centres. He said it’s okay to charge higher rates to new clients, but it’s difficult with the old and recent clients.

Also, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) shrugs off the concerns of how the appreciation of the peso could outweigh the Philippine BPO industry.

According to BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, most BPO firms do not rely on peso-dollar exchange rates to remain competitive. The BPO firms rely on their manpower’s skills, versatility and competitiveness.

The Philippines will remain as the most attractive location for outsourcing because the skills of the Filipinos allow companies to save on training costs.

In conclusion, the government still believes that the BPO industry will remain as one of the main drivers for propelling the economic growth of the country. It’s ironic, but feasible.

About the Author

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Publish on 10/16/2012
Jane is a freelance copywriter, with majority of her work focusing on the outsourcing industry.

• The Law That Will Make Investments
• You Can Breathe Easily in Cebu
• Decade Becomes Landmark for Cebu BPO

The Law That Will Make Investments

Tuesday, October 09, 2012 Unknown 1 Comments

The Call Centers of Cebu are seen as one of the best and most competitive in the country. Due to this gained recognition, the BPO industry has made Cebu as one of the rising cities in Asia. This alone has attracted many foreign companies to invest in the city.

But despite this growing popularity, there are still some foreign companies that doubt the security offered by outsourcing companies in Cebu.

It is given that when a company outsources some of its services to a third-party service provider, their data and their customers’ data are also being handed over to another entity. The protection of the privacy of these data is being put to risk.

Before, the BPO Industry of Philippines bore no legal act or law that would claim to protect the data of a company or any person that are being transmitted online. This deficiency of security has made many investors and other outsourcing industry players to doubt the capacity of the BPO industry of Philippines to provide efficient and secured outsourcing services to foreign clients.

Many debates have surfaced between parties, questioning and protecting the country from its capability to be a world-class BPO provider. Thus, a bill was drafted to answer the issue. Bill 2965 on data privacy requires the preservation of personal data collected by public and private entities.

The Bill was sponsored by Sen. Edgardo Angara, the Senate science committee chairman.

The bill was said to help boost the Philippine BPO Industry, in terms of giving full assurance to foreign clients and investors that their data are safe and secure with their third-party service provider located in the country.

Last August 15, 2012, President Benigno Aquino III signed the Data Privacy Act or Republic Act 10173, thus formally making it into a law that will be mandated to all private and public sectors.

“The State recognizes the vital role of information and communications technology in nation-building and its inherent obligation to ensure that personal information in information and communications systems in the government and in the private sector are secured and protected,” the law declares. The law also establishes the creation of a National Privacy Commission, which shall “monitor and ensure compliance of the country with international standards set for data protection.”

Among other provisions, it is mandated to publish a guide to all data protection–related laws on a regular basis.

It can also “compel or petition any entity, government agency or instrumentality to abide by its orders or take action on a matter affecting data privacy.”

The law also has a provision on protection for journalists and their sources, stating that nothing in the act repeals or amends the law that does not compel those in the journalism profession to reveal the sources of leaked news reports.

Meanwhile, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) president and CEO, Benedict Fernandez, is confident that the signing of the Data Privacy Act is another step forward to increasing the confidence of international investors on the BPO services of the country. The law would simply add more investments into the Philippine BPO Industry.

“The Act brings the Philippines to international standards of privacy protection. It is based on standards set by the European Parliament and is aligned with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Information Privacy Framework,” Hernandez said.

Sen. Angara also added that the Cybercrime Prevention Act should also be enacted to provide a legal framework for the detection, apprehension and prosecution of Internet-related crimes like hacking, phishing and spamming.

Angara also said that despite the fact that it was signed into a law, the implementation would still require the training of experts and development of enforcing rules and regulations.

The Philippine government has made another step to further improve its efforts in providing world-class outsourcing services to the world.

About the Author

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Publish on 10/09/2012
Jane is a freelance copywriter, with majority of her work focusing on the outsourcing industry.

• You Can Breathe Easily in Cebu
• Decade Becomes Landmark for Cebu BPO
• Cebu BPO Reaches Out to Visayas and Mindanao