One Million Jobs

It's True!

2006-05-08T23:47:00.000+08:00

Yes, I've decided to leave CICT, as reported in the Inquirer and the Manila Bulletin. No, I haven't yet decided what to do next (the blog is open for suggestions).

Whatever I decide to do, I will bring with me a newfound respect for the honest public servants in the Philippine government, who toil tirelessly for the good of the country, with limited resources and little or no recognition for their efforts. May your tribe increase!

DOLE Workforce Development Summit

2006-03-09T16:59:00.000+08:00

At the 2006 Workforce Development Summit, organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), I presented a paper on the prospects for the cyberservices industry. You can download the paper from the BPA/P website or by right-clicking on this link and selecting "Save Link As".

The paper contains the industry forecasts for 2006-2010, and as I blogged some weeks back, the prospects are looking good for the Philippines. There is cause for concern however, as it is quite possible that the forecasted growth may be hampered by the lack of human resources to fill the jobs. The paper identifies several issues and suggests strategies to take in addressing these issues.

Within a month, the CICT will be issuing a roadmap document on the project and programs that the government, in partnership with the private sector, will be pursuing to address the workforce shortfall. I'll post a link to the document when it becomes available.

Weekend Fare

2006-02-19T23:18:00.000+08:00

I'd like to share a new discovery I made over the weekend. I wanted to take my family to a special treat after watching my youngest perform in "Ang Pagbabalik ni Odysseus" at UP's Malcolm Hall.

We ended up at Cold Stone Ice Cream Parlor in Greenbelt 3, Makati! They have over 20 different flavors which you can combine with numerous "mashings". The ice cream is mashed and mixed on a cold stone with your selection of mix-ins.

We had a ball trying out different combinations, and my favorites were: Peanut Butter topped with hot fudge, and Banana Cream Pie mashed with Choc-Nut. If you have any favorites, post them here and I'll try them the next time I go to Cold Stone!

High-technology Business Districts

2006-02-06T18:53:00.000+08:00

Check out the listing on wikipedia for "High-technology Business Districts", there is a new addition to the list - the Philippine Cyberservices Corridor! Please help spread the word!

An Outsider's View

2006-01-17T14:49:00.000+08:00

Richard Mills, a Canadian who is currently based in the Philippines, is considered a leading expert on Asia-Pacific outsourcing by ComputerWorld magazine. He has recently been published in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Business Guides to the Philippines, and he is even more upbeat than I am on the BPO industry's prospects in 2006. Please take the time to read his thoughts here.

Happy 2006!

2006-01-11T10:20:00.000+08:00

2006 will be a big year for the Philippine BPO industry! I'll soon post the 2005 numbers and what the year ahead looks like. In the meantime, allow me to share with you one of my favorite outsourcing blogs, compiled by Information Week.

Particularly good are the postings of Paul McDougall; some of his 2005 gems are a write-up on what the WTO has to say about offshoring, and what he thinks about Friedman's book, "The World is Flat".

If you haven't read the book, you can purchase an online summary, written by Friedman himself. You may also want to read the Fortune magazine article on Friedman. The Fortune article says if you type "thomas friedman the world is flat" into a search engine, you'll probably find this scathing review by Matt Taibbi, which is also referred to in McDougall's blog. As for me, any outsourcing advocate with a handicap of 5 and whose next book might be about golf is certainly welcome in my home!

8th Philippine Web Awards

2005-11-25T21:41:00.000+08:00

Now I finally know what it feels like to say, "Can I have the envelope, please?" With no less than the charming Ms. Joan Miller as my co-presenter, to boot! We were at the Meralco Theater for the 8th staging of the Philippine Web Awards, organized by MediaG8Way Corporation. Congratulations to all the winners, especially my college classmate Jim Ayson, whose PhilMusic.com was one of the websites inducted into the Hall of Fame, and also to my good friends Danny and Marilyn Montano, whose Holy Cow Animation won Best SME Website!

The director gave me a set of cue cards, but I threw caution to the wind and ad libbed about the Webby acceptance speech of Al Gore (of Presidential recount fame), and the demise of the Chinese TV show "Super Girl" (scroll two-thirds down this Newsweek page to read about it). At least in the Philippines, we can still have People's Choice Awards!

Congratulations to the MediaG8Way team, especially Bombim and Delia, and we're certainly looking forward to the 2006 Philippine Web Awards!

*Photo courtesy of Maan Tolentino

Speech: BSA Regional Innovation Forum

2005-11-22T19:09:00.000+08:00

Today's speech was entitled "Competitiveness through Government Policy", presented at BSA's Regional Innovation Forum at the Shangri-la Putrajaya in Malaysia. The forum was attended by over 30 policy makers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines. The forum agenda included keynote speeches from Robert Holleyman, CEO and President of BSA, and Dr. Stan Liebowitz, noted autor and professor. The objective of the forum was to gain insight into strategies that can be adopted to bolster the growth of the IT industry in the region.

My speech consisted of two sections; the first half presents the job generation goals for the ICT industry in the Philippines, the second half briefly outlines policy initiatives aimed at achieving those goals. For a copy of the presentation, send an e-mail to dondimapa @ gmail.com with "BSA Forum" as the subject.

Workshop: BPA/P Strategic Planning Workshop

2005-11-19T20:40:00.000+08:00

Today's workshop is the Strategic Planning Workshop of the Business Planning Association of the Philippines, facilitated by Dr. Ed Morato, professor at the Asian Institute of Management. Congratulations to Mitch Locsin, BPA/P's Executive Director, for a well-organized workshop!

A significant milestone was achieved when the BPA/P officers agreed to align with the job generation target of 1 million by 2010! Another exciting news item was the revelation that Euromoney Institutional Investor Conferences would be holding the 1st Asian BPO Conference in May 2006, and that they had selected Manila as the site!

Landmark: Victorino Mapa

2005-10-30T11:00:00.000+08:00

Every time I go to Boracay, my route takes me through the town of Kalibo, birthplace of an ancestor, Victorino Mapa. My father told me to search out the marker erected by the Philippines Historical Committee; "It's somewhere near the church", he said. On this trip, I finally succeeded! The ancestral house has been converted into the Glowmoon Hotel, hence the colorful background.

The marker reads, "Victorino Mapa, 1855-1927. Born in Kalibo, Aklan on 25 February 1855. Legal Adviser to the Philippine Revolutionary Government, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 1901-1913; Secretary of Finance and Justice, 1913-1920; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 1920-1921. Died in Manila 12 April 1927."

Happy Independence Day!

2005-06-12T17:12:00.000+08:00

Imagine my shock today when I found myself singing the Philippine national anthem, "Bayang Magiliw" in church!

In lieu of the recessional hymn, our congregation found itself joining in on a solemn rendition of the national anthem. During the homily, the priest had already tied in the Independence Day theme with the Gospel. He asked us to envision a world where we are truly independent - free of corruption, free of jueteng, free of contested electoral results.

But the ending song was still a shocker... although somehere during the paragraph "Sa dagat at bundok", I realized how the lyrics were acknowledging the beauty of God's creation. And as we got to the end "ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo", the pledge before God to defend one's country to the death took on a different, transcendent dimension.

My feeling about June 12 though, is that we are celebrating a negative declaration, i.e. "we are no longer enslaved!" Do you know that even in those days of yore, some felt that the declaration was unnecessary, i.e. that we were already independent to begin with?

As a Strong Republic, perhaps we should instead celebrate Republic Day - the day on which the First Philippine Republic was born: January 23, 1899. The day the Philippines became Asia's first republic!

What about you, do you feel as I do that Republic Day is what we should really be celebrating? And how do you feel about singing the national anthem in church? Share your thoughts with me below!

Flying High 2010

2005-06-04T17:07:00.000+08:00

The year was 1992, the venue: Camp Aguinaldo Golf Club. Instead of coming together for golf, the leaders of the IT industry had gathered for a planning workshop. The president of the Philippine Computer Society (PCS) was there. So were the presidents of the IT Association of the Philippines (ITAP), the Computer Dealers and Distributors of the Philippines (COMDDAP), and a slew of other IT user and supplier organizations such as GO-IT (Government Organizations for IT), PADEC (Philippine Association of Data Encoding Corporations), Genesys, Share Guide, and others. That year, I was the president of the Unix Users Club of the Philippines (UUCP), so I was invited too.

We had gathered together to form the IT Foundation of the Philippines (ITFP) and to elect our founding batch of officers - I was elected Secretary! We agreed to speak with one voice in advocating the interests of our industry. One of the actions we agreed on that weekend was to propose legislation to create a cabinet-level post for ICT. Those were exciting times! We were creating the future!

Fast forward to today. Déjà vu...

The year is 2005, the venue: Tagaytay Highlands Golf Club. Instead of coming together for golf, the leaders of the IT industry had gathered for a planning workshop. The incoming and outgoing presidents of the PCS were there. So were the presidents of ITFP, PSIA (Philippine Software Industry Association), PICS (Philippine Internet Commerce Society), ISSSP (Information Systems Security Society of the Philippines), the Government CIO Forum, and PADEC. As well as the executive directors of ASID (the Association of Solution Integrators in Davao), CebuSoft, and Phil-NITS (the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation).

Plus representatives from the private sector, academe (La Salle, Ateneo, Mapua, CEDFIT) and government (Senate, Congress, Supreme Court, BIR, COA, DBP, PMS, TESDA, Dep Ed, and CICT). We had sacrificed a weekend away from our families in order to draft a vision and strategy for the philippine software industry.... once again, we are creating the future!

Below are photos of the breakout groups hard at work... i.e. working hard to ignore the beautiful surroundings of Tagaytay Highlands! 8-)

(Click on each photo for a full-screen version.)

(L to R: Maan Tolentino/PICS, Adreliza Cala/BIR, the author, Janette Toral/Senate, Menchie Aragon/PSIA, George Kintanar/Congress)

(L to R: Sam Jacoba/Microsoft, Mon Ibrahim/PCS, the author, Jun Malacaman/ITFP, Cesar Tolentino/XMG, Chris Stolk/Salus, Clarisse Sabando/CPL)

(L to R: Elmar Gomez/Mobile Arts, Toy Paralisan/CebuSoft, Michelle Casio/Mapua IT Center, the author, Ivan Uy/Supreme Court, Caslon Chua/DLSU, Gina Duminy/IT Pros)

(L to R: Bing van Tooren/PCS, Fred Kintanar/CEDFIT, the author, Jeffery Sy/Trend Micro, Bebette Ventura/CPI)

(L to R: Oliver Robillo/ASID, Carmela Perez/COA, Edna Belleza/PMS, the author, Andrew Guitarte/DBP-DCI, Hans Chua/Ateneo Java Wireless Center)

What started several months ago on February 14 is now coming to fruition as "Flying High: Philippine Software 2010", a strategic vision for the Philippine Software Industry. The team is currently hard at work to produce a final report to be submitted to Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on June 22, at the Cebu ICT Expo. These are exciting times!

Related articles:
RP's software industry awakens
Industry needs to sustain its competitiveness
Study: Future of software industry bright

National ICT Month 2005

2005-06-01T18:31:00.000+08:00

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared June as “National ICT Month”.

“I hereby declare the month of June 2005 as National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Month,” said the President in proclamation no. 802, signed in February. The president directed that the event shall be under the auspices of the CICT together with other government agencies and private organizations involved in the development of ICT in the country. “All heads of department, bureaus, offices, agencies and instrumentalities of the national government, including officials of the local governments, are hereby called upon coordinate with the CICT to implement the plans, programs and activities geared toward the objectives of this Proclamation."

The ICT Month of June was first declared in May 1989 by then President Corazon C. Aquino, in order to increase public awareness on the vital role that ICT plays in national development.

The theme of National ICT Month 2005 is, "Towards a Philippine Information Society".

The inspiration for the theme came from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's message to the World Summit on the Information Society, "We are going through a historic transformation in the way we live, learn, work, communicate and do business. We must do so not passively, but as makers of our own destiny. Technology has produced the information age. Now it is up to all of us to build an Information Society."

The World Summit on the Information Society, or WSIS, was convened in order to determine how ICT can best contribute towards the advancement of the U.N.'s Millenium Development Goals.

This month, let us all renew our efforts to work together in building a Philippine Information Society - a society which is inclusive and uses ICT to bridge the many divides we have in our country, a society where all Filipinos enjoy a better quality of life through optimum access, usage, utilization and sharing of information and knowledge, a society where ICT is used as a tool for delivering good governance.

GMA-7 Interview on the significance of National ICT Month

Pope John Paul II and ICT

2005-04-03T02:20:00.000+08:00

"This world is not capable of making man happy."
- Pope John Paul II, 1920-2005

Much has been, and will continue to be, written about the great sanctity and holiness of Pope John Paul II's life and papacy. I'm quite sure that none of those writings will answer the question, "Did the Holy Father ever use a computer?"

The answer is yes! My sister, Anali Mapa-Drilon was right beside him when he used a Macintosh. The year was 1996. The place was the Vatican. The event was the unveiling of the first-ever CD* on the papacy of Pope John Paul II. Below, in her own words, is my sister's description of how it happened. Her memories were triggered when she saw, on CNN, the Pope's private chapel in the Vatican.

"We walked through that chapel to get to his study. Together with Cardinal Sin and Fr. Aris, we walked through what seemed like miles of corridors, layers of guards, dozens of closed doors. When we got to the study, I kissed his hand, then presented to him the picture where he was kissing Cheri (our youngest sister).

We then walked over to the Macintosh, accompanied by many other cardinals and priests. This was the first-ever CD on his papacy, so it was a big thing at the Vatican. He had such huge hands, almost as big as a baseball glove. I remember that my hands were like an infant's beside his.

It was over all too soon. Before we left, he gave us his blessing, and he told us to "Keep doing good things". I remember right after we left the study, I cried and cried, I was so touched by what had happened." See this story on MSNBC!

*NOTE: The CD was entitled "Mabuhay ang Papa". It was a multimedia compilation of the Holy Father's 1995 commemoration of the World Youth Day in Manila. It was the first commercial CD produced in the Philippines, and was created using Macromind Director.

Pahabol: The photos below were taken in May, 1980 at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. My mother and father had saved enough to take our family on a world tour, including a 2-week stay in Italy to attend the Genfest of the Focolare Movement. While in Rome, we attended the Holy Father's birthday celebration. We were blessed to find ourselves right beside the path which the Popemobile would take. When he stopped in front of us, his escorts first lifted my sister Anali, then my sister Mitzi up to him for a blessing. Finally they lifted up my sister Cheri.

To the cheers of the crowd, the Holy Father took Cheri into his arms, kissed her on both cheeks, and whispered something into her ear. Upon returning to the hotel, we asked Cheri, who was all of 2 years old at the time, what the Pontiff had told her. "Be a good girl", she echoed. My sister must have taken the advice to heart; she is pursuing a religious vocation, and is close to completing her studies at the Focolare formation center in Fribourg, Switzerland.

ZamboEcozone and Freeport

2005-04-01T01:55:00.000+08:00

It was 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening when I got the text message from Secr. Peña, "Pls call me urgent." Now it should be obvious that when you get a message like that from your boss, you don't call him right away. You first need to find out what on earth is so urgent! :-)

So I called his executive assistant, and I found out that CICT was being asked to attend an Ecozone Board Meeting in Zamboanga City the next day, a meeting which was to be presided over by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I checked my calendar, decided that the 3 meetings on my agenda could easily be rescheduled, and only then did I call my boss. "Yes sir, no problem, I'm off to Zamboanga tomorrow!"

I got up at 3:00 a.m. to meet Director Wally Rodil of CICT's TelOf at the NAIA to pick up our tickets. We landed at the Zamboanga International Airport around 7:00 a.m. That's him below in the white shirt, walking towards the terminal building.

After breakfast, we proceeded to the 65-hectare Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone and Freeport , which was properly decked out for the occasion. The ecozone was created in 1995 under the sponsorship of Rep. Clara L. Lobregat and then-Senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. There is already one IT company located in the ecozone, OMED Corporation, a Japanese-funded SW development company run by 2 engineers from India, and staffed by over 20 local software engineers.

The ecozone has miles of beaches in front and 15,000 hectares of forest highland in the back. There are plans to build residential dormitories for the call center workers envisioned to be operating here in the next few years. Can you imagine it? If you were an agent working here, you could go to work, then afterwards hit the beach or trek in the forest, and get back home in time for dinner!

PGMA arrived by chopper around 10:00 a.m., from the SouthCom base where she had stayed the previous night. We immediately got down to business with a powerpoint presentation by Norjamin Gallardo-Delos Reyes, planning manager of the ecozone. PGMA presided over the meeting of the ecozone board, and it was clear that she had specific objectives for the meeting, specifically how enhance the ecozone's role in the Philippine Cyberservices Corridor.

Rick Santos, president of AMCHAM Philippines and MD of CBRE Philippines praised the human capital potential of the area, then summarized the three concerns of locators: power supply, telecomms infrastructure, and peace & order. Rick, whose father hails from Zamboanga City, and whose mother is an American, promised to assist in preparing a report on the ecozone, which could be used in enticing locators to consider the area for their operations.

The CICT was asked to outline its plans to attract additional cyberservices companies to the ecozone, and we responded by presenting the plans for telecomm infrastructure buildup in the region. We recommended inviting the members of BPAP to visit the area. Finally, we recommended exploring joint ventures with Pakistan call centers serving Middle East countries. These JVs could be initiated as a result of the upcoming state visit of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

After the board meeting, we had an interaction session with the press. For me this was a chance to chat with Vice-Mayor Maria Isabelle G. Climaco, whose passion is making ICT safe for children. Her website is bengclimaco.8m.com. I also had a chance to renew ties with Fr. Bill Kreutz, president of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, a source of excellent human capital for future cyberservices locators.

Just as PGMA was about to leave, she was presented with a birthday surprise by Georgina P. Yu, Chairman and Administrator of the ZamboEcozone, and Celso L. Lobregat, Mayor of Zamboanga City. PGMA's birthday is on April 5.

Before returning to Manila, I took the opportunity to visit with CICT's stalwarts in Zamboanga City, NCC Director of Regional Operations Tess Camba, and Telof Region IX Director Mito-on Ibra. I briefed them on what had happened, and both expressed a strong hope that Arabic call-handling employment opportunities for our Muslim brothers would have a beneficial effect on the peace & order situation in the area.

My plane landed in Manila at 7:30 p.m. My wife picked me up and we rushed to the OMI Retreat House in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, where we delivered a talk at the Discovery Weekend for engaged couples. Finally, at 11:00 p.m., I got home and ended the 20-hour day which had started at 3:00 a.m.

Anniversary

2005-03-30T00:05:00.000+08:00

I met my wife on March 30, 1985. We met at SGV & Company, where we both landed our first jobs, straight out of college, as computer programmers. We were married exactly 2 years later on March 30, 1987! Every night, I pray, "Thank you Lord for my wife". She is my inspiration and my motivation. And most of all, her earnings allow me to pursue my vision of serving our country through the CICT ;-)

Every March 30th, my wife and I share our anniversary lunch with our three lovely children as a way of celebrating the "birth" of our family. The three are: Rafael (born 1989), Lirio (1991) and Christianne (1994). Photo was taken last year, at the Manila Zoo!

On a Plane from Bahrain

2005-03-23T01:49:00.000+08:00

I'm writing this at the internet lounge of Abu Dhabi airport, waiting for my boarding call to Manila. I'm flying back on March 23, not April 23 as originally feared. It was an honest mistake, after all. And the treatment I received the past 3 days more than made up for the error, you'll see...

When my trip began in Manila 3 days ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself upgraded to First Class! It wasn't the first time it's ever happened to me, but it's always nice when it happens. As it turns out, there were only 3 of us occupying the 12 seats in First Class, so I guess they needed me there to add weight to the front of the plane. :-D

Upon arrival at Bahrain's Manama airport, the cabin crew announced my name over the loudspeaker, asking me to identify myself to the ground crew. Upon presenting myself, they shunted me through a side tube exit onto the tarmac, where a Benz was waiting to take me to the VIP arrival lounge. Someone took my passport from me, seated me in the lounge, and in 5 minutes, we were on our way to the hotel, all paperwork completed!

When I checked-in at the Intercon Regency hotel, my accommodations were upgraded to the top floor, where I had my own suite right across from the Royal Suite (which had been assigned to the Russian delegation).

Also, throughout the duration of my stay, the Philippine delegation (all three of us: I, me, myself) was assigned its own personal, chauffeured S320 Mercedes Benz limousine along with an escort service.

Below is my escort, Mohd. He took me on a half-hour tour of the painstakingly restored Arad Fort. The fort was originally built over 500 years ago!

For our last supper in Bahrain, we were treated to a sumptuous buffet dinner at the control tower of the Bahrain Grand Prix. We were brought to the top floor of this building for cocktails and dinner!

At the cocktails, I met Her Excellency Dr. Ivy Matsepe Casaburri, Minister of Communications, South Africa. When I asked her which portion of South Africa was considered part of Asia (it was the Asia IT Ministers Summit, remember) she just gave me a big smile. Behind us are the grandstand and finish line for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

For more photos of Bahrain, please see my Bahrain Travelogue.

Isn't that cool? I told you so ;-)

Postscript: You may be wondering if I got an upgrade on the trip back. Initially, I was checked into business class. At the lounge, I approached the Filipina receptionist and asked for an upgrade. She gave me all sorts of reasons why she couldn't do it: no printer in the lounge, my seat was already on the foremost row of business class, etc., etc.

I gave up on her and looked for someone else. I found another Filipina who gladly helped me with my request. After half an hour, she came back to me with a smile on her face, and a first class boarding pass in her hand. She had bumped me up to first class, which allowed the airline to bump up someone else from economy to business class, which then allowed them to take on an additional passenger from the waitlist! Truly a "win-win" situation ;-D

AITMS 2005, Day 2

2005-03-22T14:14:00.000+08:00

On the second day of the summit, we were given some free time to tour TELECOM ARABIA 2005 and the BROADBAND MIDDLE EAST 2005 conference, two events held concurrently with the Summit at the Bahrain Convention Centre.

One of the high points of the 2nd day was the chance to meet and interact with Dr. Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN, the international organization charged with coordinating the Internet's system of unique identifiers, including the Domain Name System and the Internet Protocol address functions. Prior to heading ICANN, Dr. Twomey worked for the Australian Government and was involved with the process to redelegate the Australian domain name registry. He also served as the Chair of one of ICANN's most powerful committees, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) which consists of over 100 government officials from individual member countries.

Another high point was the floor debate (above) on the Summit declaration. Perhaps inspired by my story about People Power 2, the Azerbaijani minister had submitted a paragraph on "IT for Democracy and Human Rights" to be considered for inclusion in the Summit declaration. Unfortunately, there were others in the Summit who did not feel as enthusiastic about democracy (and human rights). Thus ensued a 2-hour debate (!) on how to wordsmith the final declaration. In the end, a compromise was reached, and thus you will not find the word "democracy" in the Bahrain IT Declaration.

The Summit concluded with the selection of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as the location for the 4th Asia IT Ministers Summit.

Click here for more photos of the summit.

AITMS 2005, Day 1

2005-03-21T14:53:00.000+08:00

The 3rd Asia IT Ministers Summit (AITMS) was hosted by His Excellency Shaikh Ali bin Kalifah bin Salman Al Khalifa, Minister of Transportation, Kingdom of Bahrain. He's also the son of the Prime Minister, and first cousin of the King of Bahrain.

The Summit was attended by Ministerial delegations from 32 Asian and Middle East nations. Beside me below is the delegation from Oman. The distinguished-looking gentleman in the suit behind me is our very own Ambassador Ed Maglaya. He heads a staff of 20 Filipinos in our embassy, and looks after the interests of 22,000 plus Filipinos working and living in Bahrain.

Each head of delegation was provided a workspace complete with red velour folder, ballpen, black leather blotter, microphone stand and speaker, and a Ferrari-Acer notebook with matching mouse. The only item we were allowed to take home was the pen and the red folder. 8-)

The first day of the summit was filled with presentations from each delegation. Our hosts spoke about their vision for a Bahrain Information Exchange, with all schools connected to the Internet by 2008, and all citizens holding a smart ID card containing citizen data such as health records, licenses, etc.

The minister from Egpyt, H.E. Dr. Tareq Kamal, Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, pointed out that ICT threatens more upheavals by widening the divide between the haves and the have-nots. So in their country, they are pushing for "smart villages", and PCs for every home and every SME.

H.E. Mr. Awais Ahmed Khain Leghari, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, mentioned that they deregulated their telecomm industry 3 years ago, and the number of subscribers went from 2m to 15m! They are now in the process of legislating a cybersecurity act to give confidence to investors. Call centers catering to Arabic speakers in the Middle East is a sweet spot for future growth.

When it came to the Philippines' turn, I proudly presented the CICT Strategic Roadmap. I told a story about how a farm worker in Negros used to waste one whole day just to travel to Bacolod to find out his SSS balances, and now with community e-centers, it takes less than 2 hours. Another story which enthralled the summit was how SMS was used in mobilizing the masses for People Power 2!

One common thread among the country presentations: ICT is a national priority, and the national vision embodies ICT as the means for transforming society, alleviating poverty, and improving education. How does the Philippines compare?

Well, we are lucky to have President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leading the way. In the Cabinet meeting which I attended last December, she asked the CICT to produce the 5-year ICT roadmap. In February, she launched the National Strategic Plan for ICT in Basic Education, a joint CICT-DepEd initiative. And in March, she christened the Philippine Cyberservices Corridor, a joint CICT-DTI Initiative. Soon, hopefully within the year, she will be able to sign the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology!

On a Plane to Bahrain

2005-03-19T03:41:00.000+08:00

As you can see from the ticket, I'll soon be on a plane to Bahrain. I've been assigned to represent my boss, Secretary Virgilio Peña, at the 3rd Asia IT Ministers Summit. The first summit was in Seoul, Korea and the second was in Hyderabad, India (click here for the declarations from the first two summits).

The current summit is from March 21 to 22. This is my first opportunity to represent the country at an international event and I pray I do a good job.

Due to government austerity measures, we're only allowed to travel when someone else is paying. So it was only when my ticket arrived on Friday, that I knew the trip was surely pushing through. I checked the ticket: leaving on the 19th, returning on the 24th. But oh my gosh!

Click on the ticket for a second look. Returning on April 24? Honest mistake or hidden message? Stay tuned for further developments. In the meantime, check out the summit website for more details!

Philippine Cyberservices Corridor

2005-03-10T14:10:00.000+08:00

The Philippine Cyberservices Corridor was officially "christened" by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at her keynote speech last March 9, 2005 at the Euromoney-sponsored Philippine Investment Conference held in Lapu-lapu City, Cebu.

“Our cyberservices corridor actually stretches 600 miles from Baguio in Northern Luzon to Zamboanga in Mindanao. It’s served by a $10B high-bandwidth fiber backbone and digital network. It’s home to 75,000 call center and BPO agents who all speak English and many of whom speak Spanish, Japanese, Chinese or Arabic - all of whom provide cyberservices at par with global standards”.

What's next for CICT, working in partnership with DTI?

promote the PCC as a destination just like the Telecom Corridor in Texas,
establish the PCC as a model for collaboration just like the International NorthEast BioSciences Corridor in the USA and Canada, and
develop the PCC as a global brand just like the Multimedia Super Corridor of Malaysia.

Why Philippine Cyberservices? "e-services" is the generic name for IT- and ICT-enabled services delivered over the Net, such as call handling, BPO, content transformation and/or transcription. "Philippine Cyberservices" will be the brand of e-services delivered by Filipinos. "Philippine Cyberservices Corridor" will be the place to go to find such services.

PCC. We service the world.

Philippine Services Coalition

2005-03-09T09:10:00.000+08:00

The "Philippine Services Coalition" is a 12-month project being undertaken by the Philippine Government with funding assistance from the International Trade Center, an UNCTAD Agency. I attended today's kick-off meeting, chaired by UnderSecretary Edsel Custodio of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The objective of the project is to come up with a list of "offers" and "requests" in connection with the WTO's ongoing round of trade negotiations. In any type of negotiation, one comes to the negotiating table with two lists:
- what I'm willing to give to the other party (offers), and
- what I need from the other party (requests).

The ongoing round of WTO trade talks is focused on services, including IT and IT-enabled services. Hence, the inclusion of the CICT on the project team for the Philippine Services Coalition! Over the next few months, I'll be calling on the private sector to provide inputs in developing the list of offers and requests, so keep tuned! In the meantime, learn more about the WTO below.

"The World Trade Organization (WTO)is the only international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible." from the WTO website

Prior to the establishment of the WTO in 1995, countries would enter into agreements with each other as a result of long, drawn-out bilateral or multilateral trade talks. These talks were referred to as GATT, or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The series of trade negotiations to come up with an agreeement are called "rounds", such as the 1986-94 Uruguay Round. The Uruguay Round led to the WTO’s creation.

The current round of talks is called the Doha Round, after the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference was held in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. More on the WTO, if you're interested:
- Ten misunderstandings on the WTO (from WTO website)
- Ten benefits of the WTO (from WTO website)
- Criticisms of the WTO
- More criticism

Q&A: What was your day like?

2005-03-04T14:42:00.000+08:00

Q&A: Today's questions come from my daughter Iona, a Grade 7 student at the Manila Waldorf School. She dreams of being many things when she grows up, and being a reporter is one of them.

"What did you do today?"

Well I had scheduled an early meeting with a call center. But I ended up being really late for that, because your Lolo Mingoy decided to drop in unannounced. I came down for breakfast, and there he was sitting at the table, waiting for me.

"Didn't you tell him you were rushing to a meeting?"

Oh you should always make time for your parents! How could I walk out on my own Dad... besides, it was obvious he wanted to talk about Ninong Tony. The two of them were really close. They were batchmates in college [along with current DTI Secretary Johnny Santos]. Even if your Lolo was 2 years older, they started schooling at the same time, right after the war ended. Your Lolo said he had a dream about Ninong Tony calling for help at 530 yesterday morning, about the time when the accident happened.

"Wow (long pause). So then you went to your meeting?"

Yup. I went to a call center near Roxas Boulevard. It's this place where they have so many desks, over a thousand desks, and Filipinos work there and answer calls and questions from people all over the world, mostly from America.

"When it's day time here, isn't it night time in America?"

That's right! So for most of the workers there, they were already tired from working the whole night, while my day was just starting. They had a lot of suggestions for me on what the government should do to help more Filipinos get more jobs at call centers. Here's a picture.

"So then what did you do after that?"

I had to rush to my next appointment at SM Megamall. They asked me to cut the ribbon at the Smart Wireless Innovation Expo. Smart was sponsoring a contest where student teams from all over the country invent fantastic ways of using cellphones to help their college or community. One of the teams showed me how a parent can use a cellphone to download her child's grades, enroll for the next semester, and even pay for the tuition!

"Oh wow. So that's where you got those flowers. Did they serve you lunch there?"

For lunch, I drove back to Rockwell Powerplant to meet with a Filipino businessman who's thinking of putting up an animation company.

"Cool! Animation as in Disney Channel and Nickelodeon?"

Oh yes! There are a lot of good cartoonists here in the Philippines, and movie producers from all over the world come here to have their animaton done by Filipinos. In fact, did you know that one of the lead cartoonists in that film "The Incredibles" was a Filipina?

"Really! So then what did you do after lunch?"

I had slack before my next appointment, so it was time to drop by an internet cafe to catch up on mail. Buti na lang, as there were questions from a newspaper reporter that needed an urgent response.

Afterwards, I went to the graduation ceremonies at Phil-NITS. They asked me to give the keynote speech to the graduating class. We spoke about President Gloria's goal of providing jobs, and about CICT's role in making it happen.

"You give a lot of speeches, don't you?"

Oh about 2 or 3 times a week. Sometimes even twice a day. March is especially busy since there's a lot of graduations and job fairs going on.

"Then you came home after the graduation?"

That's right, but only to pick up your Mom so we could go to Mass. It's first Friday, remember. Also, we wanted to catch the 8:30pm Mass at Manila Memorial Chapels for Ninong Tony. The priest who said Mass had just lost his own mother last year. So he was able to share with us a really beautiful message. He said that Ninong Tony had been preparing to meet God for the past 66 years. And when God saw he was ready, God reached down and took him.

"It came kind of suddenly though."

Well my Lolo Nene died quickly of a heart attack. Tito Isyong died in a plane crash. Tito Obet was gunned down on a dirt road. I guess Mapa men aren't destined to die in bed. When we're ready to go, we're ready to go.

"You seem to be going to a lot of wakes lately. Part of the job?"

Last week, it was for the dad of DTI UnderSecretary Mel Alonzo. This Monday it was for Justice Garchitorena. I guess it's part of life, as one gets older.

"Wow what a long day. No wonder you're so tired when you get home every night."

Well it's hard when I have to drive for myself. There's no chance to rest in the car or catch a nap while in traffic. I'm really sorry if I can't spend as much time with you when I get home anymore.

"That's ok. I know you're doing so much and you need to get your rest. Good night. I love you."

I love you too, Princess. Sleep tight; don't let the bed bugs bite!

(P.S. The priest had a second message for the family members left behind by Ninong Tony: "You still have a special mission which God wants you to accomplish". Dad, I guess that's why you're still with us. I love you.)

In Memoriam: Antonio L. Mapa

2005-03-03T17:04:00.000+08:00

My dear uncle and godfather, Antonio Ledesma Mapa, passed away early this morning. The car he was driving suffered a collision with a truck that had a faulty headlight. He was on his way from the Mapa-Ledesma farm in Tanjay, Negros Oriental to the Ledesma farm in San Carlos, Negros Occidental. The accident happened in the town of Guihulngan. I was driving to work when my brother Cidni texted me with the news. I felt so sad that I had to pull over to collect myself.

Ninong Tony was 66 years old. He is survived by his sisters (Cecy and Loretto), brothers (Cidito, Mingoy, and Monry), wife (Marilyn), 5 children (Tonton, Rina, Nikko, Lisa and Miel), and 12 grandchildren.

Back in 1986, both of us were working in the United States. I was assigned to Andersen Consulting's Advanced Systems Center in Chicago. Ninong Tony was serving our country as tourism attache for North America. One weekend, I visited him and his family in their house in New Jersey. I asked if he could keep a secret, and he said surely. I told him that I had met the girl who I was going to marry, that I had asked for her hand, and that she had said yes! He was so happy to hear the news. I asked him for advice on how to tell my parents. He said, oh don't worry about it. Of course, he told my Dad within 24 hours. Problem solved. ;-)

We shared several common aspirations that gave me the chance to resonate with him.

He was a rally driver, a motorsports pioneer in the country. When I'm in my CRV, I like to imagine I'm a rally driver. :-D

He was an accomplished photographer. During family reunions, he would entertain us with slideshows and we would reminisce over dozens of Kodak carousel trays. I too love taking pictures, especially underwater. Instead of carousels, I take my photo collection around on CDs hoping someone will ask to see them. :-/

He was an explorer/adventurer. He was the first in our family to reach Negros Oriental's Lake Balinsasayao, a freshwater lake 1,000 feet above sea level. I was the only one in our family crazy enough to try to swim across the lake! It took me more than half an hour, and the reduced buoyancy almost drowned me in the process, but I made it! :-O

Finally, we're both avid golfers. He was a very quick putter, regardless of whether he had a short or a long putt. He would step up to the ball, take a breath, then stroke the ball towards the hole. He rarely needed more than one putt, because he had such an excellent short game.

I'll never forget one summer afternoon in the '70s when I was still a teenager. I crossed the fence into his lawn (we were neighbors). He lassoed me into a pitching contest. We would pitch balls from the lawn onto the porch step. The winner would be the one who got the most number of balls to bounce off the porch step right back to where we were pitching from! He once did three in a row. He was that good!

The most memorable times I've had with my Ninong Tony were on the golf course. We played rounds together at Riviera, Calatagan, Splendido, Midlands, Navy, Sta. Elena, Alabang, and Marapara. We shared many a laugh together over golf. My dad's handicap was a running joke among us. And last year's Major tournaments gave him another running joke. Ernie Els was a consistent contender. So every time I would ask him who won, he would text back, "someone els". I hope to one day play another round together. In the meantime, here are more golf jokes that I wish I could have shared with him.

Enjoy the 19th hole, Ninong Tony. We miss you!

Updated 10 March 2005 to add links to other online tributes to my uncle:
Butch Gamboa for the Philippine Star
Vernon Sarne for the Manila Times

FGD on SMITE Financing

2005-02-25T15:41:00.000+08:00

SBGFC, DTI and the CICT will be conducting a Focus Group Discussion on Financing for Small and Medium IT Enterprises or SMITEs. This FGD will be hosted by SBGFC (Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corporation), an agency of DTI.

Date: March 11, 2005 (Friday)
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm
Venue: SBGFC Board Room, 18th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, 139 Valero St., Makati City

Topics to be covered will include:

what are difficulties faced in obtaining financing for expansion purposes?
what are the typical uses of loan proceeds?
what do financing institutions need to know about financing for SMITEs?

SMITEs includes: software application developers, contact centers, medical transcription companies, animation houses, and other small/medium ICT-enabled services providers.

Only limited slots are available, so if you are interested to attend, please click on "comments" below and leave the following information:

name of your company,
website of your company (URL), and
"safe" email address e.g. dondi sa gmail dot com.

We will notify you by email, on or before March 7, if your registration is confirmed. Thank you.