SILAY, Negros Occidental - Four major IT (information technology) sites are scheduled to rise in Negros Occidental, thanks to the support extended by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the industry

In a briefing at the Teleperformance Phils. facility near the Luxur Hotel here, Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, president of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental National Federation of Information Technology, disclosed that work will soon start in the 50-hectare industrial economic zone in Silay and in the 13-hectare IT and tourism zone in Bacolod to prepare them as sites for IT and BPO (business process outsourcing) firms.

And training programs are now being conducted in anticipation of the arrival of these companies.

"We have six call center training providers identified with TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority),” Batapa-Sigue said. “Likewise, most of our colleges and universities have their training programs that address the need for more talents."

All this, Batapa-Sigue acknowledged, became possible after President Arroyo established the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the Philippine Export Zone Authority, and the local ICT councils and federation.

"We have become cyber leaders inside the cyber corridor that President Arroyo has created,” she said.

The President is stepping down in five months, Batapa-Sigue observed, “but before she does, we would like to thank her for all she did for the industry.

“We also would like to inform her that we fully support the pending bill in the Senate that seeks to institutionalize the CICT.