THE City of Bacolod received one of the six awards during the 1st Flare Awards organized by the Information Technology-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City Friday, October 28.
Councilor Em Legaspi-Ang, city government representative, along with Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) executive director Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, received the Crystal Flare for Beacon Award.
IBPAP cited that the city has been recognized as the Center for Excellence for Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) in the country.
It is also included in the Tholons International Top 100 cities in the world, it added.
Batapa-Sigue said the city was also cited to have come up with innovative programs to develop thousands of IT jobs.
“We are now being considered as model for other cities in the country,” she said.
She added that even Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, who served as one of the panel members during the International IT-BPM Summit prior to the awards night, lauded the Negros First Cyber Centre as an ICT-BPO hub worthy to be replicated by other provinces.
For her part, Ang thanked IBPAP for the award as she hoped that it will continue to inspire the city to work harder.
The Flare Awards is aimed at recognizing institutions and individuals who have supported the ICT industry through the years.
Individual awardees were former director general Lilia de Lima of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim of the newly-created Department of Information and Communications Technology, Commission on Higher Education head Particia Licuanan and former senator Edgardo Angara.
Another awardee was the Asia Pacific College, receiving the Crystal Flare for Sparkler for institution category.