Home-based ICT sector needs reliable power

DAVAO CITY April 4 (PIA) The home-based online workers would need reliable power to sustain their booming businesses.

This according to Atty. Sam Matunog, president of ICT Davao (Information Communication Technology).

Matunog said a considerable percentage of the 35,000 ICT workers in Davao City are home-based.

Citing figures from freelancing online platforms oDesk and Elance, there were P124-million worth of freelance homebased projects done by Dabawenyos from 2010-2014.

Matunog said that in order to grow the industry must be spared from brownouts which had affected their work.

Davao City has been plagued by rotating brownouts due to below normal capacity of hydro-power plants and in some instances damaged plants which extended the hours of rotating brownouts.

Unlike major business process outsourcing companies like large call centers which has large generator sets, many home-based workers do not have gen-sets at their workplaces- their house.

Among the online home jobs include virtual assistants, graphic design, article writing, website development.

Matunog said that online homebased business is booming as the Davao City population is young, highly-educated, tech-savvy and multicultural.

There is potential in the industry citing Cebu which based on Elance and oDesk registered P700-million earned revenues from the same period (2010-2014). (PIA/RG Alama)

Davao City cited as Center of Excellence for ICT-BPO Management Operation

DAVAO CITY, April 4 (PIA) The Information-Communication Technology-Davao, a nongovernment organization turned over to the city government today the Center for Excellence Award for Information Technology-Business Process Management operations.

Atty. Sam Matunog, chair of the ICT-Davao City said the city earned the award as it excels in ICT-Business Process Outsourcing.

He said the award was given by the Department of Science and Technology in partnership with Information Technology Business Process Management Association of the Philippines based on the survey conducted in the country yearly on next wave cities.

“Davao City is now recognized internationally as center of excellence for ICT Business Management operation,” Matunog said.

He said the award implies that Davao City will no longer be included in the ranking of ICT-BPO next year as it consequently enjoys being the center of excellence.

Matunog said that in the past the cities of Cebu, Iloilo and Bacolod were classified as center of excellence and now it is earned by Davao City.

“Our ICT workers in either the corporate side or homebased side stand at 35,000 and are expected to double its number three days or less,” he said.

Ivan Cortez, chief of the City Investment Promotion Center said that the information-communicator technology is leading in job-generation activities having raked the biggest number of workers at 35,000.  (PIA 11-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)

Stiffer penalties for all forms of illegal fishing in live fish trade pushed

Two lawmakers have proposed to impose stiffer penalties on all forms of illegal fishing in the country's live fish trade.

Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City), together with his brother, Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr. (Party-list, ABAMIN), filed House Bill 4231 to address the illegal live fish trade in the country, which has reached alarming levels.

Rodriguez said the trade of live fish in the country goes on unabated and at the rate it is going, critical coral reefs, particularly in the Palawan area, will soon be gone due to dynamite and cyanide fishing, threatening the sanctity of these endangered areas.

House Bill 4231 prohibits fishermen and all other individuals and corporations to engage in live fish trade using cyanide, dynamite and other forms of illegal fishing techniques.

Rodriguez said the measure also makes it unlawful to engage in live fish trade in order to trade or sell them in international and local markets.

"Live fish trade involves the trade of both food fish as well as ornamental fish for aquariums with the majority of these fishes coming from Southeast Asia. Within the live food trade there are certain types of fish demanded more often by consumers, particularly smaller and medium-sized fish," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said consumers are important because they are directly purchasing these fish species at restaurants and stores. These preferences inevitably affect the biodiversity of marine life making certain fish species more rare to find.

According to Rodriguez, the live fish food trade is a lucrative business which leads some fishermen to use illegal fishing methods and as is often the case, consumers is willing to pay large amounts of money on rare and fresh fish.

Rodriguez said it is estimated that since the 1960s, more than one million kilograms of cyanide has been squirted into Philippine reefs alone with the live fish trade continuously growing.

The bill provides stiffer penalties for any person, whether juridical or natural, caught engaging in live fish trade using cyanide, dynamite and other forms of illegal fishing techniques.

Under the bill, violators face penalties of five to ten years imprisonment and fine ranging from P500,000 to P1,000,000.

The bill mandates the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to issue the necessary rules and regulations and other issuance to ensure the effective implementation of this Act. (House of Representatives)