“The Arroyo administration did not build the BPO industry from scratch. The BPO industry was started by the Erap administration,” Salcedo said yesterday in reaction the Arroyo claim.
“The BPO Industry had its beginnings when former President Joseph Estrada directed the Department of Trade and Industry in 1999 to expand the existing Economic Zones to include IT or Information Technology related businesses,” Salcedo clarified.
“The Department of Trade and Industry got a directive from President Estrada to position the Philippines as an IT center. They even commissioned a special study to research prospects and then-DTI Secretary Jose ‘Titoy’ Pardo was even sent to India and Silicon Valley in the United States to explore opportunities.”
The Philippines, under the Estrada administration, was then able to partner with India and thus received the necessary training in the conduct of BPO.
Clarifying the history of the Business Processing Outsourcing industry in the Philippines, former Trade and Industry Jose “Titoy” Pardo said, “The BPO industry may have matured during the GMA administration but it cannot ignore that its origins are from the Estrada administration.”
“It was during President Estrada’s administration that the Northgate Cyberzone in Filinvest City in Alabang, the Eastwood City Cyberpark, and the RCBC Plaza IT centers were inaugurated in 1999,” Pardo recalled. Pardo was Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry and Chairman of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority or Peza at the time.
Pardo also revealed that it was during the Estrada administration that the interpretation of the Peza Law was expanded to include the Information Technology industry. The tax exemptions were designed to work as incentives for BPOs. This was instrumental in changing the industry climate to encourage BPO businesses to invest in the country.
Arroyo, touring the so-called “cyber corridor,” bragged that she would be turning over to her successor the call center industry which she said has become the second biggest global earner which would leave to the Philippines obtaining Frist World status.
A newspaper report quoted her as saying that “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.
“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.
She claimed full credit for having started “from scratch” the BPO industry, as she passes this claim off as part of her “legacy” to the Filipino people.
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