CITY Mayor Jane Yap is the new chair of the Tagbilaran City Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Council, Marietta Gasatan from the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) is the co-chair, while Dr. Maria Paz Espiritu from the Holy Name University (HNU) was elected secretary, with Mariano Tambis of the City Government’s Information Technology Office as the assistant secretary.
Bohol Island State University (BISU) Dr. Edward Anuta was elected Press Relations Officer, City Tourism Officer May Hope Arcenal was elected treasurer, and Department of Trade and Industry as represented by Roy Geolagon was elected as auditor.
The new ICT officers will have a long work ahead as Tagbilaran City will host the 14th NICP (National ICT Confederation of the Philippines) on November 17 and 18, 2022.
In preparation for this event, a series of trainings were launched by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Led by DICT Region 7 Focal Joshua Eleazar Domen, the new Tagbilaran ICT Council attended a seminar entitled, “Tagbilaran City Institutional Development 101: Promoting Collaboration for Growth Through the ICT Council Model”. City Councilor Engr. Charles Cabalit, Committee Chair on Information Technology gave the welcome address.
During his talk on “The Digital Cities Program 2025 and Orientation about DCP Institutional Development Framework”, John Jasper Sanchez, Team Lead of the DCP, IID ICT Industry Ecosystem Development Division, said that the DCP plans, develops, and promotes the National DICT agenda.
Tagbilaran is among the Digital Cities 2025 that have been selected based on the 4-point evaluation system according to: talent availability (graduates, talent resources, etc.), infrastructure (hotel availability, telecommunications infrastructure, etc.), cost effectiveness (minimum wage, business rental, etc.), and business environment (ICT council, travel advisory, local government, population, etc.). In fact, Tagbilaran City will host this year’s Information and Communications Technology Summit on November 17 and 18, 2022.
Despite all the geo-political uncertainties, natural disasters, and global pandemic, the Philippine IT-BPM industry is consistently generating jobs and revenues of P29.5 million dollars, with 1.4 million Filipinos working in the industry, even during the pandemic, and in 2022 recorded a 7.8 % increase in the 1.4 million work force, 30% of which are located in the countryside demonstrating resilience and optimism.
For his “Call to Action”, Regional Director Fred Amores expressed that despite the pandemic, there is a 7 to 8 % growth in headcount and revenue and he is hopeful that with the establishment of the Tagbilaran ICT Council, the sector can go to a higher level. He also challenged to grow the ecosystem through the Tagbilaran ICT Council, to get better, with more aggressive participation of the private sector.
“We need a community to build this. The DICT is here,” Amores said.
He added that he is happy the National ICT Summit will be in Tagbilaran and that there are so many back-to-back events, which includes the planning session of the sub-unit.
He also looks forward to the success of the summit in November 2022 that will invite more people to come and see the beauty of Bohol and will grow the sector towards more collaboration among the different agencies. (Fiel Angeli Espejo Arao-Arao Gabin)
