October 2012 iCalabarzon—The Strategy for a Smarter Region alabarzon is positioning itself as a ‘smart re- gion’ to lead the coun- C try in its drive to com- pete in the knowledge economy through public-private partnership (PPP) and handle growing demand for business process outsourcing from various global industries. This strategy called iCalabarzon, or Intelligent Calabarzon, was thus firmed up as the brand of the campaign to promote information ICT Stakeholders: BPAP Sr. Exec. Director Gigi Virata , DOST-ICTO Project Manager Emmy and communications technology Lou Delfin, DTI 4A Dir. Marilou Toledo, RDC Representative Mr. Donald Gawe, Sta. Rosa (ICT) in the region. Aligned with Planning Officer Mr. Dan Pablo and representatives from DOST IV-A, PLDT, CHED IV-A, DTI IV-A, and JICA the vision of the Philippine Digital Strategy, the brand will promote an digital and borderless economy by man capital, social capital and ICT innovative, digitally-empowered, 2020. infrastructure. globally competitive, and a prosperous region where everyone has reliable, A smart city is defined as a developed In the region, the City of Sta. Rosa has affordable and secure information ac- urban area that creates sustainable emerged as a first rate location to lead, cess. economic development and a high guide or test-run the aspirations of a quality of life by excelling in multiple smart, intelligent region with the col- The strategy is based on the world- and seam less key areas that is econ- laboration between government and wide bandwagon concept of 'smart omy, mobility, environment, people, private partners, particularly develop- cities' which is now sweeping Europe living and government. Excelling in ers, locators and technopreneurs. and Asia where countries brand them- these key areas can be achieved selves as ‘smart’ as they gear up for a through programs that strengthen hu- Next page please Calabarzon There is knowledge in news 1 product (GDP) growth for 52 consecu- In Calabarzon, the ICT Committee of “All the signs are up. tive quarters since 1999. It has a stable the Regional Development Council banking system with low interest worked with the Department of Trade An intelligent region is rates, and a low inflation environment. and Industry (DTI) to gather stake- on the rise towards a holders - the local government units, Moreover, the Philippines ranked no. industry organizations (BPAP, LINK 21st century knowl- 1 in the call center sector and no. 2 in IT), regional line agencies (NEDA, edge economy and the BPO, worldwide. This stellar per- DOST, DEPED and DILG), and the formance has confirmed the to the telecommunications sector (PLDT) - knowledge world the Philippine Value Proposi- to take proactive roles in adopting the society.” tion, helping increase IT investments industry cluster approach for ICT un- by 66.2 percent (from PhP11.1 million der the National Industry Cluster Ca- iCalabarzon is anchored on a frame- in 2010 to PhP18.3 million in 2011) pacity Enhancement Project. work that should help realize national that generated employment of 643,000 development goals such as: (a) raising and an annual revenue of USD 11 bil- The objective here is to come up with US$25 billion in IT-BPO revenues; lion. a roadmap that would address the gaps (b) reducing poverty incidence from identified under the following strate- 26 percent to 16 percent by the year The National Competitiveness Council gies: talent development, promotion 2016; (c) decongesting traffic from has been responsible advancing and and marketing, infrastructure and sup- major cities including Metro Manila; improving the rank of the Philippines port services, and business develop- (d) transparent, effective, and account- to 20 places higher in the World Eco- ment. The three-year project consists able governance; (e) reducing vulner- nomic Forum Competitiveness Report of training and planning, consensus- ability to climate change; and (d) en- during the first two years of President building, and implementation and couraging successful globally- Aquino's administration. learning and is carried out by DTI and competitive Filipino entrepreneurs. in cooperation with the Japanese Inter- The National ICT Confederation of national Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Philippines is said to possess one the Philippines has been collaborating of the brightest prospects in the global with government for the development (Tess Tawingan & Charlie Dajao, DTI IVA) economy. Currently, the country has a of cities towards ‘Smart City’ booming real estate market, a strong status. performing stock market in Asia since 2011, and a positive gross domestic DOST’s Project NOAH to Strengthen Nationwide Disaster Risk Reduction Efforts he Department of Science aster situations. These include Hy- and Technology (DOST) is dromet sensors development, putting into place a nation- DREAM-Lidar, FloodNET, Haz- wide disaster mitigation sys- ards Information Media, Landslide Ttem that will help key agencies and Hazards Mapping, Doppler System personalities make informed decisions Development, and Storm Surge In- to save lives and properties. undation Mapping. Called NOAH or the National Opera- With DOST on the lead, NOAH volcanic eruptions, some of them tional Assessment of Hazards and brings together experts from 21 insti- highly-destructive, the NOAH project Risks, the system is designed to tutions in close collaboration, includ- comes as helpful as Noah’s ark of the “enable the government to address the ing DOST’s PAGASA, PHIVOLCS, Biblical times. Natural hazards inflict serious challenges brought by extreme Advanced Science and Technology loss of lives and costly damage to hazard events,” according to DOST Institute and Science and Technology property, with economic losses Secretary Mario Montejo. “We will Information Institute; DILG; UP- amounting to billions of pesos each apply advanced S&T tools, such as National Institute of Geological Sci- year. Also contributing to the losses is enhanced vulnerability maps and a ences and Department and College of the continued development in hazard- shortened six-hour monitoring and Geodetic Engineering; and Smart prone areas and the rapid growth of warning system for communication Communications, Sun Cellular, and the population. along the major river basins.” Globe Telecommunications. (FV Anonas, DOST) NOAH has seven components that In a country frequently visited by ty- will meet major needs in various dis- phoons, tsunamis, earthquakes and Calabarzon There is knowledge in news 2 RICTC Pushes Support to Calabarzon ICT-BPO Development he Regional Information consultation with the members of the the local IT-BPO industry to higher and Communication Tech- Committee and other stakeholders. growth levels. nology Committee (RICTC) has taken the lead role in To harmonize ICT-BPO development The RICTC supports the upcoming Tpushing the development of ICT and in the region, the RICTC oversees the 5th National ICT Summit on Novem- business process outsourcing (BPO) in alignment of all regional and subre- ber 22-23, 2012 to be hosted by the the Calabarzon region by harmonizing gional ICT plans with the regional and Sta. Rosa City government. The sum- efforts among the key development national goals. The Committee pro- mit aims to attract BPO investments in players to promote viable contribution motes integration of various IT-BPO the Next Wave Cities and transform of the industry to the overall growth courses in high school and college the City of Sta. Rosa as well as the targets of the Regional Development programs and enhancement of basic Calabarzon region into World-Class Plan. English skills trainings to avert a ICT Hub. looming talent supply and help spur The Committee, headed by BPAP Senior Executive Director Gillian PEZA IT COMPANIES IN CALABARZON Joyce Virata, consists of representa- Batangas TeleTech Call Center tives from regional line agencies, local Cavite AMCA Smart Solutions, Inc. Software Development government units, academe and pri- vate sector as members. American Power Conversion Call Center Analog Devices Shared Services The RICTC, with the aim of building Astec International Engineering Design a common vision and strategies on ICT and BPO development, has con- Line Seiki Engineering Design cluded a multisectoral Strategic Plan- Schneider Electric BPO ning Workshop on May 28-29, 2012 at TeleTech Call Center Kimberly Hotel in Tagaytay City Laguna Convergys Call Center where the participants were able to formulate a draft Calabarzon ICT Encore Receivable Call Center Roadmap. The Roadmap seeks to cre- Furukawa Automative Engineering Design ate an environment conducive to the KGB Phil. Inc. Call Center growth of ICT-BPO industries. Mektec Phil. Corp. Engineering Design Among the priority areas in the region Microprecision Engineering Design are those included in the list of top ten SPI Technologies BPO next wave cities in the country TeleTech Call Center namely, Metro Laguna, Metro Cavite Rizal TeleTech Call Center and Lipa City in Batangas. Finaliza- tion of the document is underway in Source: PEZA Calabarzon There is knowledge in news 3 RDC TREEmendous Planting Activity he Regional Development Council (RDC), together with the Department of En- vironment and Natural Re- Tsources (DENR) and STAR Tollway Corporation, led a region-wide tree planting activity last September 21 to celebrate the 112th anniversary of the Philippine Civil Service and to support the National Greening Program of the Philippines. A total of 23 regional agencies gath- ered at the office of the STAR Toll- way Corp. for the opening program of the activity. The welcome remarks from Mr. Melvin Nazareno, President DOH IV-A Dir. Edgardo Gonzaga, NSO IV-A Dir. Rosalinda Bautista, CSC IV-A Dir. Lucy Ramos, NEDA IV-A OIC-Dir. Agnes Espinas, DILG IV-A Josefina Go, DENR IV-A Dir. of the STAR Tollway Corp. was fol- Reynulfo Juan, DENR IV-A RTD Arnulfo Hernandez, DENR IV-A Manuel Escasura lowed by addresses from OIC-Dir. Agnes M. Espinas of NEDA IV-A and the activity’s guest speakers. They OCD, TESDA, CSC, BFAR, and Dir. Reynulfo A. Juan of DENR IV-A shared insights on environmental pro- LTO.