| THE
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Commission on Information and Communication
Technology (CICT) has recently declared Tagbilaran City as an emerging information
technology hub. The
move is part of the packaging of the Philippines as the Premier e-Services hub
in Asia, while developing the countryside as an information technology (IT) hub
or cyber-services corridor for various IT-oriented services. CICT
Commissioner Dondi Mapa has been going around the country to assist in each locality's
ICT strategic planning. In
Tagbilaran, with DTI provincial director Nanette Arbon, the team completed its
strategic planning sessions last year and has sent a summary of the sessions to
the DTI Regional Operations Group for improvement of the plan to develop the area.
Bohol is among
the few provinces that have been active in promoting their area as an ICT hub
to potential IT locators, Earlier,
DTI and the CICT identified Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao important
tiers of the Cyberservices Corridor. Later,
it added Baguio, Dagupan, Tarlac, Sta. Rosa, Lipa, Legaspi, Naga, Bacolod, Iloilo,
Durnaguete, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro and General -Santos. Now,
seen as emerging tiers are San Francisco (La Union), Cabanatuan, Puerto Princesa,
Tagbilaran and Zamboanga. An
area can be considered an ICT hub if it satisfies the availability of quality
human resource, strategic location, reasonable cost of doing business and expanding
infrastructure. |