Despite the negative perception of Mindanao, two of its major cities are cited as among the best business process outsourcing (BPO) locations outside Metro Manila and Cebu.

Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City were cited as among the 10 next-wave cities for outsourcing by the BPO scorecard of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Davao was at the fourth place—with a score of 80 percent out of 100—behind Metro Laguna (88%), Metro Cavite (85%) and Iloilo (81%).but ahead of Bacolod City (78%), Angeles-Clark-Mabalacat cluster in Pampanga (77%) and Baliuag-Marilao-Meycauayan cluster in Bulacan (74%).

Cagayan de Oro landed on the 8th spot with a score of 73%. Its score is the same as the scores of Malolos-Calumpit cluster in Bulacan and Lipa City in Batangas.

The BPO scorecard was computed using the following criteria: availability of talent (50%), infrastructure (30%), cost (5%) and business environment (15%).

Oscar Sanez said that they were happy that the two cities in Mindanao made it to the list. “Mindanao cities have a lot more to overcome than other cities in the country.”

CICT Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III said that the negative perception of Mindanao region and the travel advisories issued by embassies have affected the ranking of Davao, “Mindanao has been fairly affected by the perception.”

“It is a challenge to build awareness and to get people to the region,” Chua said.

Davao got a score of 60% for the business environment criterion, which took into account risk factors. Cagayan de Oro, meanwhile, received a 68%.

Davao, however, got higher scores in other criteria: 78% for talent, 95% for infrastructure, and 80% for cost while Cagayan de Oro received 63% for talent, 91% for infrastructure, and 87% for cost.

Meanwhile, CICT Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim said that local chief executives in Mindanao knew that the negative perception is a challenge and they are active in promoting their locations to investors.

An inventory of the BPAP showed that Mindanao only accounts for 1.2 percent of the workers in the BPO industry—0.9 percent from the Davao Region and 0.3 percent in Northern Mindanao.

“Davao City and Cagayan de Oro are the main BPO hubs in Mindanao,” said Gigi Virata, BPAP executive director for information and research, in a previous interview. She added that General Santos City is also an emerging BPO location in the Mindanao.

Local chief executives of other Mindanao cities like Dipolog and Zamboanga are also hoping that they can attract investments from the BPO sector but the volatile peace situation in some areas of the island has scared away potential investors.

The BPO industry is considered as one of the sunshine industries of the country. As of last year, the BPO sector employed around 300,000 workers and generated US$4.8 billion revenue. (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

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