The Philippine Cyber Corridor

A consultative workshop on the Philippine Cyber Corridor was held at the Conference Room of the Mindanao Development Council (MEDCo) last September 5, 2007. The event was organized by the Commission on ICT (CICT) and facilitated by Ms. Patricia Abjejo, Director for Cyberservices, with two other companions.

Key ICT sector leaders from Davao City (Region XI), Cagayan de Oro City (Region X), Zamboanga City (Region 9) and General Santos City (Region 12) were in attendance. The main components of the consultative workshop were: (1) briefing on the Philippine Cyber Corridor; (2) the process of becoming an ICT hub; (3) the need for ICT councils; (4) the DOLE workforce development initiatives.

The Cyber Corridor is envisioned to be home to numerous cyberservice providers that supply expert services in various field of ICT like business process outsourcing (BPO), contact centers, animation, medical and legal transcription, software development, e-learning, e-entertainment and gaming, and other back office operations (e.g., finance and accounting, human resource development, etc.).

The Cyber Corridor was highlighted in the State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (years 2006 and 2007) as the fifth "super-region" of the Philippines (aside from the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle, the Metro Luzon Urban Beltway, Central Philippines, and Mindanao) with the firm resolve of "spreading the development away from the inequitable concentration in Metro Manila. The Cyber Corridor encompasses centers of technology and learning running the length of all "super regions", from Baguio to Clark to Metro Manila to Cebu to Davao and neighboring areas. The Philippines ranks among top off-shoring hubs in the world because of cost competitiveness and more importantly, our highly trainable, English-proficient, IT-enabled management and manpower."

The core mandate of CICT is to strengthen and sustain the status of the Philippine Cyber Corridor as the preferred ICT destination in the global ICT space. This mission springs from the CICT vision of an ICT-enabled business environment that shapes and empowers the economic dreams and aspirations of the 21st century Filipino.

The CICT has been conducting scorecarding exercises in various locations in regions wanting to be part of the corridor. The exercise determines the viability of other areas in the Cyber Corridor outside of Metro Manila as potential locations for ICT investors willing to relocate to the regions. Currently, 33 locations have been scored, 14 of which have locators already existing. The 14 scored sites with already existing locators are the following: Baguio, Clark/Pampanga, Sta. Rosa/Laguna, Rizal/Cainta, Lipa/Batangas, Legaspi/Albay, Naga/Camarines Sur, Cebu, Iloilo, Tacloban/Leyte, Dumaguete/Negros Oriental, Bacolod/Negros Occidental, Davao, Cagayan de Oro. The 5 scored sites with expected locators by end of year 2007 are the following: Cabanatuan/Nueva Ecija, Dagupan/Pangasinan, Subic, Cavite, Tagbilaran/Bohol. The 14 remaining scored sites that have no existing locators yet are the following: Poro Point/La Union, Tuguegarao, Tarlac, Bataan, Bulacan, Quezon, Puerto Princesa/Palawan, General Santos, Kidapawan/North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Koronadal/South Cotabato, Sarangani, Bukidnon, Zamboanga.

The Cyber Corridor promises a number of benefits. The first is job generation. Two million jobs are projected by year 2010 plus additional upstream jobs in training and construction, and downstream jobs in transport, food services, and infrastructure. The second is regional development -- from Baguio to Zamboanga. This will indeed change the face of the nation. The third is locator options. The important factors for consideration will be cost, lifestyle, scalability, retention. The fourth is dispersion of demand. This will minimize wage inflation and poaching/attrition.

The Philippines is competitive in the ICT global space because of the following strengths: (1) reliable infrastructure support in terms of real estate, power, and telecoms; (2) quality human resources with an abundant labor force of 32 million; (3) investment incentives; (4) strong partnerships and linkages with national and local government agencies, industry leaders and associations, and academe; (5) strong private sector initiatives.

The challenges that face the Philippine ICT sector are the following: (1) sustaining adequate supply of skilled ICT workforce; (2) cost of electricity; (3) high software piracy rate; (4) lack of cyber laws (anti-piracy, data privacy, cyber security).

CICT proposes the following steps to becoming an ICT hub and part of the Cyber Corridor: (1) DTI-ROG pinpoints viable locations within the Cyber Corridor; (2) DTI-ROG gathers concerned stakeholders for the exercise (e.g., LGUs, academe, representatives from telecommunications, power, real estate, PNP, among others) to gather data and build an ICT ecosystem profile for the location; (3) CICT and DTI-ROG conduct scorecard exercise which is basically a self-assessment of the capabilities of the location and find out its readiness to host an investor/locator; along side, a SWOT analysis is also conducted to determine the strengths & weaknesses of the location; (4) CICT then conducts an ICT strategic planning workshop to map out what needs to be done to address crucial locator requirements; (5) CICT monitors the progress of the location in carrying out strategies to increase its competitiveness; (6) when the location has addressed the issues/challenges identified, then CICT declares the location ready and endorses it to BPAP vendors as a viable location for investment.

In developing the ICT ecosystem, the following areas the bases for the score card: (1) workforce potential; (2) telecoms infrastructure; (3) real estate; (4) vendor support; (5) LGU/community support; (6) power infrastructure; (7) transport infracture; (8) incentives; (9) quality of life. In a scale of 1 to 10, the location makes a self-assessment of its own capabilities and readiness to host investors/locators. The score carding exercise intends to address the weaknesses of the location in order to establish a complete cyberservices ecosystem which is key to attracting locators. Each location is encouraged to have its own "unique selling proposition" or "differentiator".

This whole planning exercise in the regional level gives CICT a more accurate picture of the workforce. Infrastructure build-up programs can be rationalized (depending on the score cards). Locations can build on respective strengths, avoid duplication of efforts, and minimize competition for locators. The key word is to "synergize". Locations that have addressed their weaknesses, improved their score cards, and finalized their roadmaps get the nod and endorsement of CICT and become officialy part of the Philippine Cyber Corridor.

The importance of regional ICT councils was emphasized by CICT during the consultation. These councils will serve as the backbone of the assessment and planning excercises at the regional level with the goal of becoming part of the Cyber Corridor. The results of the various consultations of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Workforce Development Initiatives were presented as additional input for the participants when they get back to their respective regions and undergo their assessment and planning exercises. CICT also expressed their plan to organize a national ICT council composed of the leaders from the organized regional ICT councils.

Source: Presentation slides of CICT during the Philippine Cyber Corridor Briefing at MEDCO last September 5, 2007.