ICT Will Change Jobs Ecosystem in the Countryside, NICP Official

With the establishment of the Borongan Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Council recently, ICT experts believe this push will change the jobs ecosystem in the countryside, including the economically developing city of Borongan.

In her visit to Borongan on June 15, 2018, Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Vice-President of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) said that there is a potential in Borongan to host an ICT park.

“This will in turn change the jobs ecosystem in Borongan,” she said.

She then narrated how the ICT spark boosts Bacolod, her hometown.

The 2017 JobStreet.com Bacolod Job Trends Report showed the BPO sector employs 40 percent of the total workers among the Top 10 industries in Bacolod.

In the course of her lecture on capacity development, Batapa –Sigue urged parents to encourage their children to venture into ICT job opportunities which abound.

“With the push on ICT, there will be more jobs in the countryside and that the Philippine ICT councils would become the engine for real inclusive growth,” the ICT expert said.

“Let Borongan be in the fulcrum of the ICT development in Eastern Samar,” she added.

“We have to embrace technology fast, why is it slow for us to adapt to new things?” she sighed.

She said that with the ICT in Borongan, there are potentials for Animation and Game Development, Contact Centers and BPO, Global In-House Centers, Health Information Management, and Information Technology and Software Development.

The workforce that is adept at ICT need not go to Manila or other big cities to be employed, but they can work right in their hometown Borongan, she added.

She said though that it will not be easy, the project needs the cooperation, coordination and collaboration of both public and private sector, she said.

But the first step, creating an ICT Council that will charter the course of the ICT development is done, she said.

The city government through Sangguniang Panlungsod Member Estanislao Quelitano pledged to link the council to the local government, expected to provide supportive, transparent and pro-competitive policies and framework that strongly encourages market led initiatives.

The council also boosts of the presence of businessman Rolando Olog, owner of Reliance CATV that also provides connectivity and is willing to support the council.

The council as start-up planned to meet the soonest possible time to prepare the structures that will make the ICT dream happen with the support of the DICT-Borongan Field Office led by Engr. Dante Rosales.

The potential too of some big names in the ICT corporate jungle from Eastern Samar to hop into Borongan to hone talents is an option and as priority chore for the council.

With the support system in place, the new Borongan ICT Council could only pray and hope that it can provide job opportunities for the young people and jobless folks of Borongan. (AJC/NBQ/PIA 8-E. Samar)