ICT industry forms "Iligan Declaration"

To maximize the country’s potential in the Information and Communication technology, ICT players have come together to form the “Iligan Declaration” to serve as the official representative of the ICT sector in the Philippines.

Founded by the 10 ICT Councils in the Philippines following the success of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDFIT), the "Iligan Declaration" was formalized during a two-day workshop of ICT Councils around the country, held in Iligan City last November 25 and 26.

CEDFIT executive director Bonifacio Belen said that the group has formulated five key point-agenda to sustain and fast track the growth of the ICT industry in the Philippines through a strong collaboration.

The group aims at addressing the human resource (HR) supply problems in the area of certification, assessment, teachers training, curriculum development, so that ICT education will be standardized.

 According to Belen it is high time for the Philippines to create a private sector-led ICT Council, as ICT has now become one of the primary sectors that provide backbone to the Philippine economy amid the global economic downturn.

The group will likewise put focus on how each region can attract more ICT related investments while the respective ICT councils work closely with their respective local government units (LGUs) and pursue an active implementation of several promotion and marketing campaign abroad, such as benchmarking, trade missions, among others.

A committee was formed to take care of the advocacy programs that will pressure the government in pushing ICT growth through proper support in regulations, tax incentives, budget for ICT infrastructure development, and other challenges that are holding off the growth of the industry.

Implementing a strong partnership with the LGU is one of the priorities that will be activated by each ICT Council. Belen said other Councils may learn from Davao and Bacolod Councils that have successfully partnered with their City Councils of which ordinances were passed solely to support the ICT sector.

The group also include "Risk Management" as one of the priority agendas that will be addressed by the ICT Industry.

The birth of "Iligan Declaration" was prompted by the encouragement of the Commission of Information and Communication Technology (CICT) for every province/city to create a CEDFIT model in order to open up opportunities and growth in the ICT sector.

 According to Belen, every province in the Philippines has potential to capture the multi-billion-dollar ICT industry especially in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), both voice and non-voice services saying "the global ICT industry is so huge, that every region or province has opportunity to take advantage of this sector."

The founding members of the "Iligan Declaration" include Cebu (Cedfit), ICT Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bicol-Albay, Metro Clark, Iligan, General Santos, and Quezon City.

Soon, the group will be inviting other ICT Councils around the country to join the body for a more solid and strong private-led ICT organization in the Philippines, Belen said. – Ehda M. Dagooc