The Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has sought the support of the Provincial Board (PB) in facilitating the establishment of Bohol’s first information technology hub which is projected to draw investors from the IT and business process management (IT-BPM) industry and generate jobs for Boholanos, particularly through call centers.

BCCI president Al Uy appealed to the PB for the issuance of a resolution endorsing the Uptown Realty Corp.’s application to accredit a 13,886-sqm. area in Brgy. Dao as an IT park under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

If the firm’s plans push through, the area will be called the Tagbilaran IT Hub which will house call centers and other establishments.

According to Uy, the PB’s endorsement is among measures needed to fulfill requirements from businessmen in the IT-BPM sector.

In previous months, several investors had expressed intent to build call centers in the province but there are no viable areas yet, he said.

Uy also noted that Bohol is already lagging in the IT-BPM industry pointing out that Boholanos have to leave the province to seek employment in the sector particularly with call centers in Cebu and Metro Manila.

He also assured the public that call center companies will be prioritizing the application of Boholanos and that salaries would be guaranteed to be above minimum wage, same as those of other IT-BPM employees in the rest of the country.

In its six-year road-map, the IT-BPM industry projected that by the end of 2022, the sector would be producing 1.8 million jobs, of which more than 500,000 will come from outside the National Capital Region.

In the last 20 years, it has generated over one million direct jobs and funneled over $20 billion in annual revenues into the national coffers on the back of quality talents in the country’s labor force.

However, Tagbilaran City has not yet been projected to be among key areas which will help sustain the IT-BPM’s robust growth, while neighbor Dumaguete City has been included in the sector’s “next wave cities.”

The cities of Baguio, Cagayan De Oro, Dagupan, Dasmarinas, Lipa, Malolos, Naga and Sta. Rosa, and the municipality of Taytay have also been deemed by the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines as the next hubs for IT-BPM. (Allen Doydora)