PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is in Bacolod City Friday for her tour of cities and capital towns all over the country dubbed as “cyber corridor tour.”

The President will meet officials, staff, and technical people of Teleperformance at 2 p.m. She will be accompanied by Negros Occidental Governor Isidro Zayco, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Representative Monico Puentevella, and Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chair National ICT Confederation of the Philippines and chair Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT (Bnefit).

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Also in the reception is David Rizzo, president of Asia Pacific Teleperformance.

Arroyo has started the cyber tour first in Angeles City, part of the so-called Pampanga Central.

The tour will highlight a part of Arroyo’s legacy that provides the human and physical infrastructure for the ICT-business process outsourcing (BPO) sector that creates high-paying jobs for young Filipinos.

The 10, identified by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (Bpap), Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), are Metro Laguna, Metro Cavite, Iloilo, Davao, Bacolod, Bulacan East, Bulacan West Cagayan de Oro, Lipa City, and Pampanga Central.

These areas are serviced by 10 international airports and 15 domestic airports, thus making them conducive to international operations.

The cyber corridor was set up according to a plan prepared by 31 ICT councils composed of representatives from the private sector, the academe, and local government units in partnership with CICT, DTI, and Bpap.

Arroyo introduced in 2006 the super regions concept dividing the country into five areas of development: North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle, Luzon Urban Beltway, Central Philippines for Tourism, Agribusiness Mindanao, and Cyber Corridor.

She has tasked government agencies to ensure the competitiveness of the ICT-BPO sector, promote investments in the Cyber Corridor and the Next Wave Cities; ensure the supply of talent for the BPO-IT industry; increase awareness in the use of ICT; encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to utilize technology; and motivate entrepreneurs and local government units (LGUs) to support the BPO-IT industry.

Leonardia said the President’s visit is in recognition of Bacolod City being one of the major players of IT Industry today, employing at least 6,000 already.

Speaking of the IT industry, Leonardia said the entry of Transcom was something that is considered a surprise because the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) itself admitted to him that it did not recommend Bacolod.

To the contrary, they were trying to encourage Transcom to go to Iloilo because Bacolod is already saturated.

But despite CICT’s advice, Transcom saw that Bacolod is still a better option, meaning the city is not yet saturated and that is very encouraging because it will push us to prepare our people all the more, said Leonardia.

It is an encouragement that we should give more attention to training our people, he added.

After having been voted as one of the “5 Next Waves Cities” in the Philippines, Bacolod is really in tract and our city is already flying, Leonardia emphasized.

One more very inspiring development is that in the study of determining the “Next Wave Cities” in the category of the business climate, Bacolod was number 1 in the Philippines.

This validates furthermore then the status of Bacolod City as bestowed upon by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the “Most Business Friendly city” of the country.

The businessmen are the ones who are saying this, as against what my political opponents would always say against the administration, said Leonardia.

On the other hand, other people who are objective and apolitical would always say good words for Bacolod City, Leonardia said.

Recently, the Department of Finance awarded the Bacolod City treasurer’s office as number 2 in the whole of Western Visayas, which again validates that in terms of financial, the city is in good hands and we have a sound financial status.

The President will proceed to Cebu after her visit in the city. (GMD/With Teresa Ellera-Dulla)