Decision disappoints Philippines IT-BPO sector

[EMBEDDEDThe information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry has expressed disappointment on a presidential directive which placed the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) under the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), reports the Manila Bulletin.

In a statement, the BPO industry was surprised when Executive Order 47 (EO 47) renamed CICT as the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) without the consultation of the stakeholders of the industry.

According to the Business Inquirer, the statement read: “We were disappointed that EO 47 was issued without the benefit of extensive stakeholder consultation, as we believe this would have been highly beneficial to the development and execution of public policy on the key ICT sector.”

“We call upon our government to engage in deeper collaborative dialogue with all stakeholders before undertaking further major reforms that critically affect our sector.

Unless we strengthen our public-private partnership with the government, we will have great difficulty achieving our goal of generating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the next few years.”

However, CICT was also the IT-BPO partner in the Next Wave Cities strategy that seeks to attract investment to provincial areas where jobs are desperately needed, reveals Malaya Business Insight.

It also organised regional ICT councils to empower local governments and enhance regional cities' ability to draw industry locators.

On 30 June, President Aquino issued EO 47 dissolving the CICT. He also abolished the positions of CICT chairman and commissioners.