Negros Oriental food products go international

Five locally produced food delicacies from the province will be highlighted in the International Food Exhibition Philippines (IFEX Philippines 2008) together with other selected food products from the Central Visayas Region 7, on May 16-18, 2008 at the SMEX Convention Center, Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

According to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Information Officer, Tammy Sevilla to be featured in this year's IFEX under the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions' Partner Region Program are: Orient Foods' "energy food", a combination of ampaw and dehydrated fruits; Sans Rival's jam squares; Ivon's baye-baye; Chantilly's bod-bod kabog; and the bod-bod of Tanjay.

Under the program, the above food companies have been getting assistance in food packaging development/enhancement to make their products competitive in both domestic and international markets.

The owners are given trainings/seminars in production and marketing-related topics to help improve their production towards safe and quality products as well as equip them with the knowledge to improve their negotiation skills in dealing with local and foreign buyers.

Sevilla said, during the IFEX all products from Region 7, in their enhanced packaging and labels will be showcased in a special setting at the main exhibition hall, where local and foreign buyers are expected to visit. (PIA)

More Revenues In Software Development For Cebu

Cebu is expected to generate $255 million or 20 percent of the $1.275 billion revenue in software development by 2010 as it continues to be a premier outsourcing destination in the country.

Executive director of Cebu Educational Development Foundation Bonifacio said these figures are based on the studies conducted by the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) and Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

Cebu earned $60 million and employed 3,500 software developers in 2006, Belen added.

In his presentation during the launching of Cebu Business Month (CBM) 2008, Belen said this target puts forward the “enormous growth opportunity” for Cebu. “The challenge for Cebu is to serve substantial share or 20 percent of the national target (of $1.2 billion in 2010),” he said.

Belen said CBM 2008 features the First Cebu Open Source Summit which is one way of addressing challenges faced by the ICT sector.

“For the very first time, the major stakeholders of Open Source Technology across the world will converge in Cebu to discuss how the Open Source movement is changing the rules of the game for ICT,” he said.

The summit will have speakers from Cebu and other countries, who will discuss issues such as open source applications, infrastructure and technical success factor, challenges and risks of open source, and best practices for open source governance.

Filipino entrepreneur Winston Damarillo, who is chairman and co-founder of BPO company, Exist Global and software company, Morph Labs will be one of the speakers.

Belen said the summit will help Cebu reach its revenue target in the BPO and ITES sectors in 2010.

International Tourism Forum Highlights Bohol And Cebu

Tourism stakeholders are currently preparing for the United Nations-World Tourism Organization’s (UN-WTO) 6th International Tourism Forum for Parliamentarians to be held in Cebu on Oct. 22 to 25.

“Once again, Cebu will be the center of the world stage,” Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said. “It is an opportunity for Cebu to look forward to and grow, and an effective way for Cebuanos to look inward and present its competitiveness and strength as a people to the rest of the world.”

Cebu received international recognition for its hosting of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in January 2007.

The international forum, which is held every two years, is expected to gather some 400 delegates from 156 countries.

Durano was in Cebu with other Department of Tourism (DOT) officials and representatives of the UNWTO for the 888 News Forum yesterday at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

Durano said the international tourism forum would have been held in China, but local stakeholders defended the country’s interest to host the event.

He said the Philippines’ bid drew support from other Asean member-nations and even earned the backing of China.

In an interview, Durano said tourism-related discussions to be tackled during the forum will deal on infrastructure projects, climate change, poverty reduction and the role of women in the industry.

He said infrastructure, especially airport development, will always be a vital component to increase tourism activities in a country.

A change in the climatic conditions will also be crucial in the traffic of foreign visitors, thus the tourism sector must be prepared for whatever changes in terms of trends and travel habits of tourists during wet and dry seasons, he added.

Durano also spoke of “immeasurable benefits and trickle-down effects” that the international tourism fair will bring to Cebu, as the main venue, as well as Bohol, which will be visited by delegates.

“The visit will show the sustainable eco-tourism of Bohol. It should be a role model for a balanced tourism development and nature preservation,” he said.

Durano lauded the efforts of tourism stakeholders and local government units in Bohol, “who have become the pillars in making the province one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in the Philippines.”

DOT Undersecretary for Tourism Planning and Promotions Eduardo Jarque Jr. said with the international media mileage that Cebu and Bohol will be getting, both provinces — “with their renowned capacity to attract visitors” — is guaranteed to be in the world map as a destination for leisure, and international meetings, conventions, incentives, and exhibitions.

DTI, DOT ink pact for marketing of OTOP products in Central Visayas

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7, in partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7, will hold a familiarization tour of towns taking part in the One Town, One Product (Otop) project.

The tour will enable DTI 7 and DOT 7 to effectively market Otop products and services among foreign and domestic tourists.

DTI 7 presented some Otop products in Cebu and other parts of Central Visayas to a group of local tour guides and tour operators in a briefing last Monday.

The joint venture of DTI 7 and DOT 7 is the first in the region and the second nationwide, said DTI 7 Director Asteria Caberte.

Caberte said the familiarization tour of successful Otop areas by tour guides and operators “will help provide a new dimension in the region’s tourism packages,” especially since Central Visayas is described as the tourism gateway of the Philippines.

“They can incorporate Otop stories into the town’s history and narrate it to tourists,” she said in an interview. She pointed out that since tour guides are likened to “walking billboards,” they would be the right people to tap in the promotion of Otop products. (wowphilippines)

New Schedule Of Business Permitting And Licensing At DTI NERBAC - 7

The Department of Trade and Industry’s National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center in Region 7 (DTI NERBAC – 7) announces that, effective January 14 this year, the BIR, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG will be posting their representatives at the NERBAC only in the morning (8:00 am to 12:00), from Monday to Friday.

With the very limited staff of the four mandatory agencies, resulting from the implementation of the Rationalization Law, the BIR, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG are presently unable to detail their representatives on a whole day basis (8:00 am to 5:00pm), from Monday to Friday, at the NERBAC until the volume of transactions would justify the hiring of additional personnel.

It is to be recalled that DTI-NERBAC-7, as a one-stop-shop for business registration (for sole proprietorships), permitting and licensing has already been operating since October of last year, with the Cebu City Government and the four mandatory agencies, the BIR, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG, having their respective representatives posted at the NERBAC 7 office which is located at LDM Bldg., Lapu-lapu St. cor Legazpi Sts., Cebu City.

Processing and procurement of the Cebu City Mayor’s Permit by new partnerships, corporations and cooperatives, as well as new licenses involving the four mandatory agencies, as mentioned, can be done at the DTI NERBAC 7 office.

With NERBAC as a one-stop-shop, new applicants for business permits and licenses are spared from the tedious process which they had to go through without the NERBAC facility. This process involves registering their business names with DTI and securing a business or Mayor’s permit from the Cebu City Hall (for Cebu City based businesses) and registering with the four mandatory agencies in separate locations.

Housing these six (6) offices under one roof would really be a great relief for applicants who would register their new businesses, as they will be saving not only the cost of going from one office to another, but also valued time.

As improvements in the operations of NERBAC progress, rolling out the reforms in the BPLS out to other provinces, cities and municipalities of Region 7 are now contemplated, in the hope of creating a uniform process flow for business registration, permitting and licensing throughout Region 7, with the end goal of improving the overall investment climate. (ends)

Central Visayas lists one of lowest unemployment rates among regions

Unemployment rate in Central Visayas dropped to about 5.9 percent as of October 2007, compared to the 7.5% in the same period in 2006, says the latest NSO labor force statistic report.

According the report, underemployment (those persons that desires additional hours of work) also dropped to 11.3 percent in 2007, the second lowest among the country's 17 regions. In 2006, region 7's underemployment rate hit 17.8 percent.

Nationwide unemployment also dropped to 6.3 from 7.3 percent. Among the regions, only the NCR recorded a double-digit unemployment rate of 10.6 percent, the highest among the regions, said the NSO report.

According to the report, more than half of those unemployed nationwide were men at 63.5% and 46.2% of all jobless persons had attended high school. Those that managed to reach college were not also better off, they accounted for 39.5% of the unemployed.

The Cagayan Valley region reported to have the highest employment rate at 97.7 percent. Central Visayas has 94.1 percent, lower than the employment rates reported in the Zamboanga Peninsula, Eastern Visayas and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, among others,

The report further said that of the estimated 35.9 million people in the country's labor force, 93.7 percent were employed or 9 out of 10 persons were employed.

Laborers, unskilled workers, farmers and fishers make up about half of all workers. Nearly 50% (48.8) were in the services sector; 36.1% were in the agriculture and the rest, 15.1% were in the industry sector, the NSO report went on.

Finally, about 6.1 million of all workers were underemployed, placing the national underemployment rate at 18.1% in 2007 or lower than the 2006 estimates of 20.4 percent. (PIA)

Cebu outsourcing facility opened by India’s Wipro

GLOBAL IT SERVICE provider Wipro Technologies has set up shop in the Philippines, opening a business process outsourcing (BPO) center in Cebu.

The Bangalore-based company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, plans to hire some 900 employees for the 45,000 square-foot facility. Officials said it was also looking at establishing additional centers in other fast-growing Philippine cities.

"The Philippines is one of the largest English-speaking nations and with a talent pool of 29 million. This is one location that we definitely want to expand our presence in," Wipro BPO President T.K. Kurien said in a statement.

The firm did not detail its Cebu investment, nor its Philippine plans. Company officials were not available for comment as of presstime.

Wipro BPO Vice-President Sanjeev Bhatia, in the statement, said the Cebu facility would address the requirements of a global market.

"Our business objective is to enable delivery of multilingual services to our global customer base. With a strong and robust game plan for the year, we are very clear in announcing Wipro’s arrival towards global serviceability, and Philippines is a major milestone in this journey" he added.

In a telephone interview, CB Richard Ellis Philippines director Ryan Isip said the property management firm had been tapped as lease manager.

"Wipro will locate at Cebu IT Plaza. The province was their preference. They are also interested in looking at other provincial sites," he told BusinessWorld.

Cebu, said Mr. Isip, has gone beyond being a premier tourist destination as it is now the second most popular Philippine destination for BPO companies next to Metro Manila.

Wipro’s move to locate in Cebu, said Business Processing Association Philippines executive director Mitchell Locsin, "It shows the Philippines continues to grow and attract global outsourcing companies.

"This is good for the country; they are employing thousands of people. We welcome them." — BW