by admin | Aug 1, 2016 | Headlines, National News, Tech Talk
Officials of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) have committed to work for at least 1 million direct jobs and 3 million indirect jobs in information and communications technology (ICT) in the countryside by 2022. The number or more translates to approximately half of the ICT industry jobs targeted by the industry under the new administration.
Officials of the NICP with DICT secretary Rudy Salalima (seated)
The target, as well as the strategies, was presented by NICP officers led by president Wilfredo Sa-a Jr. in their courtesy visit to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) secretary Rodolfo Salalima on Thursday, July 28.
Sa-a stressed that 70 percent of the ICT industry today is found only in Metro Manila, and the rest are spread throughout the country with concentration in the urban areas. NICP said its direction is to help bring more jobs such that half of industry targets are found in the countryside.
Sa-a explained that aside from jobs in the ICT business process management, the group’s thrusts is to create ICT opportunities in tourism, health, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and others related sectors.
Salalima expressed appreciation for the programs of NICP in the countryside since its inception in 2008 and assured the commitment of his office to promote inclusive growth.
He assured NICP that the national broadband plan is not “only going to be about infrastructure, but also many things” including human resource, job generation, and growth of the countryside as he believes that the results and the use of the infrastructure is more important.
Former NICP president Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chair of the annual NICP eGOV Awards, presented to Salalima the concept of eGOV which addresses the challenge of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 25.
The chief executive challenged all levels of government from the national level, the local government units, down to the barangays to use the computer to hasten government processes for the benefit of the public.
The eGOV awards, which started in 2012, collates and recognizes all LGU best practices in integrating ICT for delivery of public services and improvement of local business ecosystem.
One aspect which also caught the attention of Salalima was the program in rural impact sourcing (RIS) which creates a lot of ICT jobs in the rural areas.
Johny Paul Lagura, former councilor of Kapatagan, Lanao Del Norte and RID advocate, shared with Salalima the upcoming Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference which is first of its kind in Davao in December this year.
Salalima committed to support NICP, especially its annual summit, which has been held for the last eight years. This year, the event will be conducted in Leyte and Tacloban City in November, the first national ICT event after the occurrence of Typhoon Yolanda.
Salalima is expected to present more details of the National Broadband Plan by that time. Hosting the summit this year is the Eastern Visayas Federation for Information Technology (EVFIT) lead by DOST officials Ed Esperancilla and Glen Ocana.
Also joining the courtesy visit and briefing were former NICP presidents Rosemarie Rey, George Sorio, and trustees Willy Tanagon, and Raymund Diaz.
by admin | Aug 1, 2016 | Headlines, Tech Talk
Officials of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) committed to work for at least 1 million direct jobs and 3 million indirect jobs in information and communications technology (ICT) in the countryside by 2022. This number or more translates to approximately half of the ICT industry jobs targeted by the industry under the new administration.
The target as well as the strategies were presented by NICP officers led by president Wilfredo Sa-a, Jr. in their courtesy visit to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Rodolfo Salalima today, July 28.
Sa-a stressed that 70 percent of the ICT industry today is found only in Metro Manila, and the rest are spread throughout the country with concentration in the urban areas. NICP’s direction is to help bring more jobs such that half of industry targets are found in the countryside.
Sa-a explains that aside from jobs in the ICT business process management, NICP’s thrusts is to create ICT opportunities in tourism, health, agriculture, entrepreneurship and others related sectors.
Salalima expressed appreciation for the programs of NICP in the countryside since its inception in 2008 and assured the commitment of his office to promote inclusive growth.
He assured NICP that the national broadband plan is not “only going to be about infrastructure, but also many things” including human resource, job generation, and growth of the countryside as he believes that the results and the use of the infrastructure is more important.
Former NICP president Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chair of the annual NICP eGOV Awards presented to Salalima the concept of eGOV which strongly addresses the challenge of President Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 25. The President challenged all levels of government from the national level, the local government units down to the barangays to use the computer to hasten government processes for the benefit of the public. The eGOV awards which started in 2012 collates and recognizes all LGU best practices in integrating ICT for delivery of public services and improvement of local business ecosystem.
One aspect which also caught the attention of Salalima was the program in rural impact sourcing (RIS) which creates a lot of ICT jobs in the rural areas. Johny Paul Lagura, former councilor of Kapatagan, Lanao Del Norte, and RID advocate shared with Salalima the upcoming Philippine Impact Sourcing Conference which is first of its kind in Davao in December this year.
Salalima committed to support NICP especially its annual summit which is held for the last eight years, and this year in Leyte and Tacloban City in November, the first national ICT event after the occurrence of Typhoon Yolanda. Salalima is expected to present more details of the National Broadband Plan by that time. Hosting the summit this year is the Eastern Visayas Federation for Information Technology (EVFIT) lead by DOST officials Ed Esperancilla and Glen Ocana.
Also joining the courtesy visit and briefing were former NICP presidents Rosemarie Rey, George Sorio and trustees Willy Tanagon, and Raymund Diaz.
by admin | Aug 1, 2016 | Tech Talk
The Iriga Rinconada ICT Council is set to pursue strategies to generate at least 5,000 jobs enabled by information and communications technology (ICT) in Iriga City, Camarines Sur, by 2022.
During a capabilities development conference held in Naga City Friday, July 29, members of the Iriga Rinconada ICT Council led by Iriga City Mayor Madelaine Alfelor identified specific steps to create more awareness on ICT in their area, engage all stakeholders, especially the academe and business sectors, to develop Iriga’s ecosystem for ICT-enabled jobs.
The lady mayor called on the members of the ICT council to unite and help the city generate more jobs as national real estate developers like SM and Ayala turn their sights on Iriga.
This is in response to the overall challenge of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), the national network of ICT councils, to reach the 1 million mark in ICT jobs under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
In special briefing to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Rodolfo Salalima, NICP officers led by Wilfredo Sa-a, Jr. of the Cebu Educational Foundation for Information Technology (CEDFIT), NICP committed to push for an additional 600,000 jobs in the next years to add yo the existing 400,000 jobs now found outside of Metro Manila.
The current number is only about thirty percent of the total ICT jobs in the Philippines, where seventy percent are concentrated in Metro Manila.
NICP trustee and ICT council mentor, Jocelle Batapa Sigue of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT (BNEFIT), facilitated the workshop in Iriga where stakeholders collectively aspired to become one of the centers for excellence in ICT development and services in Luzon by harnessing their talent force and establishing ICT centers accredited with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), among other strategies.
Former Iriga mayor Ronald Felix Alfelor is his city’s ICT champion as he envision a local economy that has 24/7 capabilities to host global services. Alfelor showcased a an operational 35-seater business process management facility in the center of Iriga where they pioneered call center services.
Iriga’s strength lies in size of its talent pool with the presence of 2 universities, 6 colleges, 1 state college, and 8 technical vocational schools, says Alfelor.
by admin | Jul 30, 2016 | Local News / Bohol Balita, Tech Talk
IT’S full steam ahead for the 2016 “Geeks on a Beach” (GOAB) technology and startup conference at the Bellevue Hotel in Panglao Island in Bohol on Aug. 25-26.
But as GOAB is fast approaching and getting more of the public’s attention, some people had become curious and wondered what are geeks, and what does the word “geek” mean.
Movies characterize them like nerds: skinny or chubby but oddly dressed, smart but socially inept or introvert, with sleek or unkempt hair, dental braces, oversized spectacles, and with the ever-present backpack worn on two shoulders.
However, contrary to the stereotype popularized by Hollywood, geeks look and act ordinarily just like the rest of the human race in mainstream society, and also have a normal social life.
People like Microsoft developer Bill Gates, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are geeks and may have one or a combination of the above-mentioned attributes, but they appear outwardly ordinary and don’t have eccentric behaviors.
The only behavioral trait that sets them out of the ordinary is their remarkable obsession with computer technology. Thus, a “geek” — a slang term originally used to describe an unfashionable or socially inept person – is a digital-technology expert or enthusiast.
Geeks spend 88% of their time in their air-conditioned cubicles, hunched over their laptops or PCs working on their projects, whether it’s a computer software, an application, a startup, or a website.
They seldom venture outdoors and sometimes never when they’re in the middle of working on a computer project or a product.
“These guys won’t stop at nothing until they get things done,” said Dave Overton, the chief geek of GOAB and CEO of Sym.ph. “I know, because I’ve been there, and it’s not healthy. It’s like you have been sucked up to another planet where you don’t feel tired or hungry.”
This never-surrender attitude is admirable, but this would lead to brain drain and physical exhaustion as well, CTO of Sym.ph and GOAB emcee for the past 3 years Albert Padin chimed in.
“You’re gonna be spending far too many hours with what you’re working on because you believe that it’s gonna work, until you realized that you haven’t slept and eaten for quite a long while,” said Padin, a 28-year-old Google Developer Expert who also co-founded Sym.ph and has worked on consumer, enterprise, and government software products.
Due to this bad side effect, geeks would somehow stumble in their work and could not finish whatever they’re working on.
To help her fellow geeks in this situation, according to Overton and Padin, alpha geek Tina Amper in 2011 established TechTalks.ph — a benevolent community for technology and startup buffs – and later assisted in bringing Startup Weekend to the Philippines.
After hosting the first Startup Weekend in Cebu sometime in 2012, Amper felt she needed to do more for her fellow geeks, whose number has grown at a rapid rate. And the rest was history.
“Geeks on a Beach” has become an international confab and has greatly contributed to the empowerment of Philippine startups since its first staging in September 2013 in Boracay.
It was also instrumental to the success of some startups like Cogito.ph, Salarium, and Zipmatch.com.
The 4th GOAB, a unique confab featuring the cutting-edge of the tech world in a laid-back atmosphere, is the first startup event to be held right after former President Benigno Aquino III signed the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in May.
With this year’s theme “Empowering startups, leading change,” GOAB will once more highlight communities of startups or innovation-driven enterprises based on software or apps, which have seen remarkable growth in the Philippines in the last few years.
GOAB is organized by TechTalks.ph, co-organized by Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and co-presented by PLDT SME Nation, Ideaspace and SmartDevNet.
GOAB is held in partnership with HappyGaraje, Sym.ph, and PR Works. This year’s Silver Sponsors are Zalora, Mynimo, Teradoor, and PouchNation while Bronze Sponsors are A Space, Yoyo Holdings, Payoneer, Eurekloud, USAID-STRIDE, US Embassy, Launchgarage, and StarTechUp Inc. GOAB organizational partners are Philippines Software Industry Association, National ICT Confederation of the Philippines., UP CebuInit.org, CedFIT.org, Game Developers Association of the Philippines, Digital Commerce Association of the Philippines, Developers Connect, STAC Silicon Valley and GoNegosyo. Media partners are Auza.Net, Tech in Asia, Geeks in Cambodia, Hubnob.tv, InnoPub Media, Mytechisland.com, Zerothreetwo.com, Jumpstart Magazine, Mobile Ecosystem Forum, Asian Journal Publications, Balikbayan Magazine, Innovation is Everywhere, e27, Newsdesk Asia, WazzupPilipinas, Escooped.com, Istorya.net, Expat Philippines, PayPerClick.ph and TopTen.ph. GOAB founding sponsors are Smart, Smart Bro, Smart Devnet, Ideaspace, Mynimo.com, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, STAC Silicon Valley, Islands, Istorya.net, GT Cosmetics, Chef on Demand and Ng Khai Development Corporation.
GOAB is currently offering 15% discount on its tickets and 40% discount for group of 5 of more. Startups are also encouraged to apply to the 2nd GOAB International Startup Pitching Competition for opportunity to be matched with mentors and investors.
For more information, to sponsor or purchase tickets, visit, www.GeeksOnABeach.com; or contact Hello@GeeksOnABeach.com. Facebook: Geeks On A Beach and Twitter @GeeksOnABeach.
by admin | Jul 29, 2016 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
MANILA, July 29 (PIA)–Human sa iyang panagpulong sa National Security sa Malakanyang, gimanduan usab ni Presidente Rodrigo Duterte ang mga lider sa mga lokal nga kagamhanan nga hingusgan ang kampanya batok sa ilegal nga droga.
Human sa panagpulong nila niadtong Miyerkules, gipangunahan usab sa Presidente ang oathtaking ceremonies sa mga opisyal sa League of Cities ug League of Provinces of the Philippines.
Gipasabot sa Presidente sa mga nitambong sa maong okasyon nga kun dili siya molihok batok sa pagkatap sa ilegal nga droga, padayon kining mahimong problema sa mosunod nga mga Presidente sa nasod.
Giingong tungod sa gipasagdang problema sa droga, nawala na ang kahadlok sa mga kriminal nga mohimo og krimen ug manubag sa ilang kasal-anan.
Tungod niini, giingong desidido siyang sumpuon ang ilegal nga droga ug ang korupsyon nga kaanib niini.
Gibalik usab ni Presidente Duterte ang plano niyang himuong mga rehabilitation centers ang mga kampo sa militar ug ang pagpadagan og mga rehab centers sa daghang parte sa nasod aron matabangan nga mag-usab ang mga nagumon sa ilegal nga droga. (ecb/PIA7-Bohol)
