In a presentation at the Iloilo-Guimaras Investment Forum Friday, BPAP CEO Oscar R. Sañez said Iloilo was third in BPAP's Top 10 Next Wave Cities, due mainly to the low cost of doing business in the province and the availability of talents.

However, Iloilo has only 4,000 IT-BPO workers, which can be easily increased to 20,000 workers in today's conditions, Sañez said.

"Iloilo City has much untapped potential, a large graduate pool and low industry presence. [It] should have more IT-BPO jobs considering the size of its graduate pool," he said.

Sañez explained that the National Capital Region has 25 percent of the country's graduating population, but holds 80 percent of the IT-BPO jobs. In contrast, the Visayas, which accounts for 21 percent of all graduates, holds only 10 percent of the IT-BPO jobs.

Manila is the biggest offshore BPO city in the world, but there is no reason that Manila should be the only investment site for the IT-BPO sector, he added.

"Sustained growth [for the sector] requires tapping talent across the country," he added.

As of September, Iloilo plays host to Teletech, ePLDT Ventus, Callbox Customer Contact Center, Mega Communications Inc., Techno Call Corp., Interactive Voice Call center, Medlink Trans Services, Eversun Software Philippines Corp. and Savant Technologies.

The move to make Iloilo and Guimaras as the country's next investment hub is also being pushed by the two provincial governments and the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation Inc. (ILEDF).

At the sidelines of the event, ILEDF president Rex Drilon said the two provinces offered attractive investment opportunities in a number of sectors, but were banking mainly on IT-BPO, agribusiness and tourism.

"Things have been favorable for Iloilo this year. We had a super typhoon that had hit us last year, which devastated Iloilo for a while, but we recovered fast. Iloilo is ready for the world," Drilon said.

According to ILEDF, Iloilo and Guimaras have business-friendly environments, development-oriented local governments, active and concerned private sector, competitive investment incentives and tax breaks, favorable peace and order situation, airport and shipping facilities compliant with international standards, quality power and flood control in place by 2010, a highly educated and young population, and a large OFW dollar-remitting sector.

It added that Iloilo's location and high level of accessibility and its extensive and comprehensive capabilities in telecommunications were ideal for even more information and communication technology enterprises.

Source: http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20090905-223598/Iloilo-Guimaras-eyed-as-next-BPO-hubs