The next leadership, she said, should intensify programs that would “educate the young on the use of computers and the Internet for the next generation of BPO workers.”

The business processs outsourcing  (BPO) sector would be a major key for the Philippines to finally join the ranks of developed countries in two decades, Ms Arroyo Thursday said during a visit to a call center here.

“Much work remains to be done but I am determined to turn over to the new government a new Philippines ready for the new challenge of bringing the nation on the verge of (becoming) First World in 20 years,” she said.

Early in her presidency, the sector merely raked in some $20 million in annual earnings, Ms Arroyo recalled.

Today, the industry posts total earnings of about $7 billion a year, second only to the $9 billion annual income of BPO operations in India, the President reported.

“The 90 million Filipinos have challenged India’s one billion (population) for BPO supremacy,” Ms Arroyo told the gathering at Concentrix Institute on JP Laurel Avenue.

She noted that the country’s BPO industry still had enormous room for expansion, with the potential to employ up to half a million “high-quality” info-tech professionals.

The President also called on the country’s telecommunications giants “to invest billions more” in infrastructure that could widen the country’s international telecommunication gateway.

SONA ’06 buzzword

“Two hundred years ago there was the agriculture revolution, then there was the Industrial Revolution, and now we have the knowledge revolution—and that’s the way to bring us to the First World,” she said.

The cyber corridor refers to the urban centers that now host some 750 BPO and information technology companies that are served by digital networks offered by major telecom firms, according to Malacañang.

It became a Palace buzzword particularly after Ms Arroyo promised to develop clusters of provinces into economic “super regions” in her 2006 State of the Nation Address (SONA).

From Baguio to Cebu to Davao

“(It) will boost telecommunications, technology and education. The corridor runs the length of all the super regions, from Baguio to Cebu to Davao,” Ms Arroyo then said in her SONA.

“In this corridor, the English and information and communication technology skills of the youth give them a competitive edge in call centers and other BPO (operations),” she added.

The corridor consists of ICT (information communication technology) “centers of excellence” in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, and the so-called “next-wave cities” in Laguna, Cavite, Iloilo, Davao, Bacolod, Pampanga, Bulacan, Cagayan de Oro and Lipa in Batangas.

‘Corridor’ questions only

The other day in Bacolod City, Ms Arroyo also delivered a speech promoting the cyber corridor—and was so intent on staying on message that she refused to entertain media questions not related to the topic.

She rose from her seat and appeared to be ready to leave the venue after a reporter began raising an issue concerning Negros.

“If that’s going to be the questions, I don’t want to answer other questions. I’ll only answer about ICT,” Ms Arroyo replied.

The President took her seat again only when reporters resumed asking questions related to the cyber corridor.

Sugar importation

The Philippine Daily Inquirer later learned that the local press was planning to ask Ms Arroyo about the concerns of sugar farmers in Negros Occidental, mainly the effects of importation on the domestic industry, among others.

On Monday, Ms Arroyo picked her home province of Pampanga as the first stop of her nationwide tour highlighting the cyber corridor as one of the legacies of her administration.

“With only 2,000 (BPO) workers before I became the President, we’ve created what is today a global powerhouse,” she said during a visit to the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) in Angeles City. Dennis Jay Santos, Inquirer Mindanao; Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas; and TJ Burgonio in Manila