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.

Q&A: What do you miss?

2005-02-24T21:26:00.000+08:00

The past two weeks have been quite hectic. I'll post the highlights soon. In the meantime, this week's Q&A comes courtesy of Manny Escosa, a college classmate:

"What do you miss about your previous life in the private sector?"

An office in the Makati Central Business District. My commute distance has tripled! Though with all the ongoing efforts to decongest EDSA (thank you, Chairman Bayani) commute time is not that bad. Fortunately, a kind soul at DTI has offered me a visitor's desk at their office. So for those lull times between meetings in Makati, I now have a place to work. Just have to make sure their PCs have a USB port (see next item).

A fast computer. Gone are those days when I could whip out my 1Ghz notebook, sit down at the nearest wi-fi hotspot, and catch up on e-mail. Nowadays I use a Pentium III desktop at my office, which starts choking when more than five windows are open! At night, I have a Pentium 4 at home, but it only frees up when my 15-year old son decides he's had his gaming fix for the day. How do I shuttle work back and forth between the 2 machines? I've learned to trust my USB dongle (a gift from my friend Mark) to hold my workfiles.

A PDA (sob!) The week before Christmas, my wife used our CR-V to go to the parlor. Unfortunately for me, I left my Tungsten E and my Canon Ixus camera in a knapsack in the back seat. While my wife was getting her trim, someone smashed the CR-V's window and took off with my knapsack! I was miserable for a month! I would reach into my pocket and come up with ... a blank palm. Literally. Fortunately, my data was backed up on my desktop. Still, it's only now that I'm getting over the withdrawal symptoms. And I'm still saving up to buy a replacement. In the meantime, it's back to paper and pen. :-(

Private Sector Salary. Well I don't miss it as much as missing the things I might do with that salary. Like taking my son scuba diving (we worked on our Advanced Diver certification together). Or buying a new PDA to replace the one stolen from me (next time, I'm having my email address engraved onto the case). I'm simply learning to live with a cash trickle rather than a cash flow. Fortunately, my wife's a high school principal, so that helps to subsidize the tuition of our three children, ages: 15, 14 and 10.

Power Steering. The government issued me a service vehicle: a manual-transmission, 1.3 liter 1996-model Corolla. My wife thus claimed exclusive use of our CR-V (remember the parlor above?). So instead of driving an automatic, power-steering CR-V to work, I make do with "pawis" steering. On the plus side, my biceps seem to be getting bigger! Whoo hoo!

Why do I put up with it? Find out why I joined government.

My Funny Valentine

2005-02-14T23:02:00.000+08:00

Four men and a lady. We were all supposed to be somewhere else. After all, it was 7:00 pm on Valentine's Day! But love kept us together - our love for the Philippine software industry ;-)

Dr. Emma Teodoro (seated) is the owner/president of Softtech Advantage Inc. and a founder/Director of the Philippine Software Industry Association. (Standing, L to R): Frank Holz, a 25-year resident of the Philippines, and founder of the Outsource2Philippines consulting firm. I'm next, followed by Lauro Vives, founder of XMG and finally, Mark Yambot, corporate affairs director of Microsoft Philippines.

We were at Microsoft's offices earlier this evening to draft the scope of a study for the Philippine software industry. The study will take 4 months and would have 3 phases:

Baseline Assessment - what is the current state of the industry? how do we compare to other software economies?
Industry Visioning - where do we want to go? what kind of ecosystem is envisioned to support the software industry?
Drafting a Roadmap - how do we get there? what policies need to be put in place? what projects or programs should be prioritized?

Once the roadmap is completed, CICT together with PSIA (the Philippine Software Industry Association) and other industry organizations will be entasked with implementing the roadmap and keeping the industry on course.

The study would cover software services (development/maintenance), packaged software distribution, wireless applications, gaming applications, and embedded systems. As the study progresses, I'll post updates and schedule of activities on the sideblog on Software Development. In the meantime, let me know if you're interested in participating in this study.

Pitch in your 2 centavos on what you think is needed to generate more jobs in the Philippine software industry.

Q&A: Why did you join government?

2005-02-11T20:49:00.000+08:00

People come up to me with interesting questions all the time. Each Friday, I'll pick a question to answer. This week's question comes from Joey Alarilla of inq7.net.

"Why did you decide to join the government after 20 years in the private sector?"

First of all, it was a chance to work for a fantastic boss. (Hi sir, I hope you're reading this ;-)

Second, I felt it was time to focus my talents on helping the country. I felt tired of working for my own goals. I was looking for a challenge - a chance to contribute to the country. I prayed together with my wife and family, and we made a joint decision that the timing was right. There was an opening on the CICT, and my talents and work experience seemed an excellent fit for the position.

Third, I asked my colleagues in the private sector whether they would support me if I ever accepted the job. Industry support came from the ITFP (IT Foundation of the Philippines), ITAP (IT Association of the Philippines), PCS (Philippine Computer Soceity), and BPAP (Business Processing Association of the Phillippines).

Finally, public service is a family tradition. My sister Mardi Mapa-Suplido is one of our country's chief peace negotiators. My brother Cidni Mapa is a councilor in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental.

My maternal grandfather, Dr. Cesar Ongpin, was assigned to the Department of Health's army hospital in Bataan at the time of its surrender. Thank God, he survived the 1942 Death March. He traded his silver coin collection with a Japanese guard for a chance to escape. Others were not so lucky.

My father, Domingo Mapa, worked briefly for the Philippine International Trading Corporation. My mother, Lirio Ongpin-Mapa, worked for some time with DTI's Bureau of Domestic Trade.

My other relatives who served in our government: Victorino Mapa (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1920-1921), Placido Mapa Sr. (Agriculture and Natural Resources Secretary, 1949-1953), Placido Mapa Jr. (Economic Planning Minister, 1981-1983), Roberto Ongpin (Trade and Industry Minister, 1979-1986), and Jaime Ongpin (Finance Secretary, 1986-1987).

So you could say it's in the blood.

Keep those questions coming! Or I'll have nothing to post on Fridays ...

Come to Dumaguete!

2005-02-10T22:48:00.000+08:00

My early days were spent in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. Last October, my wife and I returned for a visit to this wonderful seaside haven. We had lunch on the boulevard, at a quaint cafe called Coco Amigos.

Home to four outstanding universities, Dumaguete is the original "university" town in the country, and is a rich source of skilled human resources. Dr. Bill Torres, former NCC Director-General studied at Dumaguete's Central Visayas University. Deputy Commissioner Kathy Heceta of the NTC finished her law degree in Dumaguete's Silliman University.

The city provides many other benefits for e-services locators. High-bandwidth fiber connections, excellent English speakers, competitive incentives, golfing, whale watching and scuba diving nearby, the list goes on.

If you're interested to find out more, please come to a forum entitled "The IT Outlook for Oriental Negros and Dumaguete City" on Thursday, February 17, 2005 at the Boracay Room, Shangri-La EDSA Hotel. This forum is part of the forthcoming eServices Philippines event organized by CITEM on February 17-18, 2005.

On hand to answer questions will be government and business executives from Dumaguete City. SPI Technologies, Asia's largest independent BPO company and one of the Global 100 Outsourcing Companies, will discuss their experiences operating in Dumaguete.

The program is as follows:

11:00 Welcome by Gov. George Arnaiz
11:05 Presentation: IT Outlook for Oriental Negros and Dumaguete City
11:15 First Mover Advantage: The SPI Experience in Oriental Negros by Mr. Paul Hartley, Operations Director, SPI Publisher Services
11:40 Open Forum

Hope to see you there! In the meantime, check out Dumaguete City's website.

Tech Venture Training in Korea

2005-02-10T19:13:00.000+08:00

I've just received an invitation for a training event in Korea. Anyone interested to attend?

CICT is allowed to nominate two (2) government attendees and two (2) private sector attendees. Private sector attendees will have to purchase their own airline tickets. All other training expenses, accommodation, and ground transportation will be covered by the sponsoring organizations: Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Colombo Plan, and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). Thank you!

Attendees should meet qualifications set by the sponsoring organizations: proficient in English, between 30 and 55 years of age, and in good health. I would add that they should be actively (or planning to be) involved in the development and growth of IT ventures in the Philippines.

The training runs from May 2 to 13, 2005. The programme will give special emphasis on ventures in e-commerce and the Republic of Korea's experiences in creating and sustaining such ventures.

Topics to be covered will include: Technology Business Incubation, New Venture cycle, Models of funding, and field visits to leading IT firms.
Teaching methodology will include case discussion and experience sharing.
Faculty will include successful technopreneurs, VCs and fund managers, marketing experts, and government policy makers.

If you are interested in attending this training, let me know before February 24. Just leave a comment (include your e-mail address so I can contact you).

TELOF Workshop, February 10-11

2005-02-09T16:40:00.000+08:00

I've been invited to make a presentation on "e-Business" to the planning workshop of the Telecommunications Office (also known as TELOF). TELOF is a group within CICT, and is headed by Commissioner Elberto Emphasis.

TELOF operates and maintains various telecomm facilities nationwide. Many of these facilities were privatized in the '90s, but the following are still owned and operated by the government (click on the links for detailed descriptions):

Norther Luzon Telephone Network (NOLTELNET)
Southern Luzon Telephone Network (SOLTELNET)
Visayas Telephone Network (VISTELNET)
Mindanao Telephone Network (MINTELNET)
Public Calling Office Network (PCONET)
Electronic Messaging Network (EMNET)
Multi-Trunked Radio System (MTRS)
Government Emergency Telecommunications System (GETS)
Telecommunications Training Institute (TTI)

One of the conditions needed to create 1 million jobs is an adequate telecomms infrastructure. Not just within Metro Manila, but nationwide, so that the jobs can be created all over the Philippines. TELOF is facing a strategic juncture in its history. The private sector has reached historical levels of growth on the back of mind-boggling SMS and cellular services transaction volumes. New technologies such as Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, and Power Line Communications are making it easier than ever to deploy broadband networks.

Should government continue to operate its own network, especially for those hard-to-reach areas where private sector dares not tread? Should government continue spending taxpayer money to subsidize the network? Should TELOF put up its own international gateway facility (Read this Computerworld article for more info)?

Give me your comments, I'll pass them on to Commissioner Emphasis and his group as inputs to their workshop. And perhaps he'll put up his own blog too ;-)

A Series of Open Dialogues

2005-02-08T21:52:00.000+08:00

There's a lot that could go into this blog:

results of the private sector workshops,
findings from various industry studies, and
"eurekas" on how to improve the ICT sector.

Then I discovered "sideblogs"! How do these help?

Let's say you're from the animation industry, and you don't want to wade through posts about the software industry, then you can go directly to the sideblog "Open Dialogue on Animation".

Other sideblogs: Software Development, Wireless Applications, Medical Transcription, and Business Process Outsourcing. Sideblogs will be linked on this site.

Suggestions for future sideblogs include:

the PH Domain,
Gaming,
Engineering & Design Services,
Product R&D, and
Content Transformation.

Each sideblog would be kicked off with a workshop. Workshop details will be announced on this main board.

Any suggestions on sideblogs you'd like to see?

Random ruminations and running updates on the CICT will continue to be posted right here. Now for some articles on the flagship projects: Computerworld article on CICT roadmap and inq7.net article about 1mjobs.

SBD Vision and Mission

2005-02-07T18:49:00.000+08:00

Hi, my name is Dondi Mapa. I recently accepted a job as a Commissioner with the CICT (Commission on Information and Communications Technology) of the Republic of the Philippines. I'm starting this blog as a way of sharing the challenges I face on the job, and more importantly, as a way of getting valuable inputs and feedback from well-meaning folk.

The CICT is "the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, regulating, and administrative entity of the executive branch of Government" for ICT-related matters. (to view Executive Order No. 269, click here). The CICT is headed by its chairman, Secretary Virgilio L. Peña.

My assignment is to head the group known as the "Strategic Business Development Group" (SBD) which essentially looks after the development of the private sector. There are three other groups in the CICT:

the e-Government Development Group, headed by Commissioner Timmy Diaz de Rivera,
the Information Infrastructure Development Group, headed by Commissioner Elberto Emphasis, and
the Human Capital Development Group, headed by Commissioner Emmanuel Lallana.

The SBD group envisions an ICT-enabled business environment that shapes and empowers the economic dreams and aspirations of the 21st century Filipino. Our mission is three-fold, as follows:

to develop a world-class cyberservices cluster (cyberservices are services delivered over the net, such as offshore transcription, call handling, and business process outsourcing)
to promote SME competitiveness through the use of ICT (the more SMEs using ICT, the more ICT jobs there will be), and
to strengthen the core segments of the ICT sector (hardware, software, telecomms, consulting, and systems integration).

In the process of achieving this vision/mission, we hope to achieve the milestone of generating 1 million ICT-related jobs in the Philippines by 2010! (or even earlier, if possible).

It's clearly a big, hairy, audacious goal. In order to achieve it, our group intends to develop (or to strengthen, if already present) certain market conditions that will allow the creation of these 1 million jobs. These conditions would include access to international markets, availability of human capital, appetite for financial investment, adequate telecomms infrastructure, appropriate regulatory measures, et cetera. We'll be working very closely with other government agencies such as DTI, DFA, DOLE, NEDA, and DOST and GFIs such as DBP and LBP.

Well that's enough for now, I should think. I'd appreciate some feedback on whether the stuff outlined above is easily digested, or needs further clarification.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be coming back with postings on our "flagship projects". These 5 flagship projects bring together 25 key initiatives that were identified in workshop-style consultations with various private sector groups. I look forward to getting comments, criticisms, and of course, suggestions.

(I'll also be posting sporadic reflections on what it's like to work in government after 20 years of working in the private sector. ;-)

Resume

2005-02-01T14:09:00.000+08:00

Commissioner Damian Domingo O. Mapa was appointed to the Commission on Information and Communications Technology in September 2004. He heads the Strategic Business Development Group of the CICT.

Prior to being appointed to the CICT in September 2004, he spent 20 years in various companies in the private sector. His private sector career includes consulting assignments in the Philippines, the United States, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Kenya and Tanzania; leading and working on various projects such as business reengineering and systems implementation.

He began his career in 1984 at SGV & Co. He has served in the following companies:

Unisys Philippines, where he sat on the Management Board, and was Country Manager for the Financial Services Industry (2003-2004),
HatchAsia, where he was co-Founder and Managing Director (2000-2002),
Hewlett-Packard Philippines, where he sat on the Management Board and was Country Manager of the Professional Services Organization (1997-1999),
Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, where he was Business Consulting Director (1995-1997),
James Martin + Co. (now known as Headstrong), where he was a Director on the Asian Management Board (1992-1994), and
SyCip, Gorres, Velayo & Co.’s Management Services Division (1984-1992), where he was promoted 3 times in 4 years, and became the youngest manager of SGV & Co. at the age of 25 (the MS Division is now known as Accenture Philippines).

Commissioner Mapa has been involved in offshore services since 1986, when he was part of the team that established Accenture’s first global offshore center. What started as a 12-person operation in the Philippines, now has over 7,000 knowledge professionals servicing clients all over the world. His tenure included postings at Accenture’s global headquarters in Chicago, and Accenture’s Asia-Pacific headquarters in Tokyo.

His exposure is not limited to large multinational companies. Commissioner Mapa is also a strong supporter of small and medium-scale enterprises. He has established two business incubators in the Philippines: HatchAsia, a technology business incubator located at the Bonifacio Globalcity, and Ateneo’s JG-SOMBA, the in-house business accelerator of the Ateneo de Manila University’s John Gokongwei School of Management.

He is a recognized industry leader and a popular speaker at many industry gatherings. He is a Past President of the Philippine Association for Open Computing (PASSOC), Past President of the Unix Users Club of the Philippines (UUCP), and the Founding Secretary of the IT Foundation of the Philippines (ITFP).

In 2005, he graduated from the 11th Strategic Information Management Program, a 3-week executive program conducted annually at the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Canada. He is a graduate of the Honors Program of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Bachelor of Science in Business Management. He attended high school at La Salle Greenhills, and grade school at St. Louis, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. He has taught Knowledge Management at the Graduate School of the University of Asia and the Pacific.

(Personal)

He is the father of Rafael (born 1989), Lirio (born 1991) and Christianne (born 1994). He is married to Cherry (since 1987), who is a teacher at the Manila Waldorf Upper School. He is an elected member of the Board of Trustees of Manila Waldorf School.

He serves at his parish as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, and as a Sunday School teacher. Together with Cherry, he also serves as Lay Chaplain of the Discovery Weekend Foundation.

His hobbies are ethnic drumming, golf, and scuba diving. He is a certified Advanced Open Water Diver, and is involved with the Calatagan Artifical Reef Ecology (C.A.R.E.) Program.

last updated: 12 October 2005