IT FACILITY. Negros Occidental 2nd District Rep. Leo Rafael Cueva (standing left) and Sagay City Mayor Alfredo Marañon III (right), with the digital workers, during the launching of the city’s first information technology-business process management facility in partnership with Virtual Workforce Professionals on Wednesday (Feb. 24, 2020). “This is a step towards making Sagay the next IT hub in the province’s second district alongside Cadiz City,” Marañon said. (Photo courtesy of Lawyer Jocelle Batapa-Sigue)
BACOLOD CITY – The City of Sagay in Negros Occidental has partnered with digital jobs aggregator Virtual Workforce Professionals (VWP) for the launching of the northern Negros city’s first-ever information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) facility.
“The partnership is a step towards making Sagay the next IT hub in the province’s second district alongside Cadiz City,” said Mayor Alfredo Marañon III during unveiling rites on Wednesday.
The facility, located in a two-story Sagay mini-mall in Poblacion, will have an initial 20 seats that will host digital jobs for the city residents, and the local government plans to further develop the second floor to cater to more digital companies.
Second District Rep. Leo Rafael Cueva, who also attended the event, said the project is long overdue. “We have been very aggressive in developing programs to attract information and communications technology-related investments,” he added.
Cueva said there have been improvements in connectivity and infrastructure in the district, with the presence of the Northern Negros Agro-Industrial Economic Zone, a presidentially-proclaimed 20 hectares facility in Sagay City, which is already registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
VWP Sagay partner Vincent Escalante expressed optimism with his continuing collaboration with the team of VWP founder Leif Brian Margallo, three years after the VWP Cadiz site was established.
To date, VWP has eight sites in different cities helping bring jobs to the countryside.
Lawyer Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, founder of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology, said with the local government’s partnership with VWP, there are now greater chances for second-and third-tier cities outside Bacolod, the capital of Negros Occidental, to attract digital jobs.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has caused even traditional jobs around the world to migrate to digital,” she added.
Batapa-Sigue pointed out the importance of talent availability, quality, and scalability as a major factor for second-and third-tier cities and even municipalities to seriously consider and address the business environment and cost of doing business aside from infrastructure. (PNA)
