Attract more foreign IT firms, Angara urges government

Sen. Edgardo Angara urged the government yesterday to invite more foreign information technology (IT) companies to relocate to the Philippines to tap into the country’s huge base of computer and IT professionals.

"We have sent abroad our best English-speaking programmers, engineers and computer technicians, but we have still a big surplus of well-trained IT graduates," said Angara.

"I think we have to have a mindset that the Philippines’ many industrial hubs can become the next Silicon Valleys," he added.

If the government can persuade more tech-based companies to invest here, Angara said the Philippines can become a mecca for sprawling industrial estates.

"IT giants like Intel, Acer, Philips, Amkor-Anam, Fujitsu, NEC and Toshiba already have production plants and distribution networks here," said Angara. "But I know we can ask more foreign companies to come here."

At the same time, Angara said there is a need to change the perception of the international community that the Philippines still has a lot of catching up to do with its Asian neighbors when it comes to IT readiness.

Angara was referring to the Philippines’ dismal 67th place in the "networked readiness index ranking" of the 2004 Global Information Technology Report.

The study defined "network readiness" as the "degree to which a community is prepared to participate in the networked world." This translates to variables like:

• Availability of public access to the Internet;

• Internet users per hundred inhabitants;

• Percentage of computers with access to the web; and

• Quality and quantity of networking infrastructure.

The study ranked Singapore first, followed by Iceland, Finland, Denmark and the United States.

Aside from Singapore, other Southeast Asian nations countries which were ranked ahead of the Philippines were Japan (7th), Malaysia (27th), Thailand (36th) and Indonesia (51st). — Mary Ann Reyes