Bacolod City was declared a “Center of Excellence” for information technology and business process management operations at rites held at the Grand Ballroom of the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City last night, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said.

“This is a great day for Bacolod City! It has cemented our hold as a top information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) destination,” he said.

Bacolod City was elevated to “Center of Excellence” by the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) and the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

As a “Center of Excellence”, Bacolod now joins the elite group composed of Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Clark, he said.

Leonardia said, “To be in this league, is a clear manifestation of the continuous advancement of IT-BPM industry in Bacolod City. Moreover, it testifies that when the local government and the private sector work together, we can achieve great things for our city.”

Before this, Bacolod was consistently in the list of the “Top 10 Next Wave Cities in the Philippines.”

Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for information and Communications Technology founding president and executive director Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, councilor-elect of Bacolod, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Roy Balicas representing Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon, Jr. and John Orola, Bacolod City Administrator, received the award.

ELEVATED

The DOST and IBPAP last night also announced the top 10 "next wave" cities for business processing and elevated only one city, Bacolod, as a center of excellence, Batapa-Sigue said.

“This award goes to each and every call center agent, technical support representative, global services worker, business process manager, IT-BPO professional - to each and every Bacolodnon and Negrense who are working to prove that Bacolod, Negros Occidental is truly a Center of Excellence in the Philippine IT-BPM industry today.” she said.

The top 10 cities are Baguio, Davao, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Lipa, Metro Bulacan (composed of Baliuag, Calumpit, Malolos, Marilao and Meycauayan), Metro Cavite (Bacoor, Dasmarinas, Cavite, Imus) Metro Laguna (Cabuyao, Calamba, Los Banos, Sta. Rosa, San Pablo) Metro Naga (Naga City and Pili) and Metro Rizal (Antipolo, Binangonan, Cainta, Taytay).

DOST Secretary Mario Montejo was the keynote speaker at the recognition rites.

“We thank all those people and groups from the private sector who contributed much to bring Bacolod to where it is now as well as the big-time investors for their continued trust and confidence in the dynamism of the local economy and local governance in Bacolod,” Leonardia said.

‘GRADUATION GIFT’

The mayor also said this is like a graduation gift as he ends his fourth term, because this billion-peso industry started with zero in 2004 when he took over the city government and now it has metamorphosed into an economic mega force.

However, Leonardia also cautioned, “This accolade presents a big challenge to direct our focus on our manpower volume and quality.“

“While we made initial steps toward this direction in our Bacolod City College and in the K+12 basic education in Bacolod City National High School where Bacolod was a pilot city, we now have clearly seen the vast opportunities and potentials that this industry offers and we should grab this rare chance and ride on this momentum.”*

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