Key Changes in BPO Legislation

President Benigno Aquino III formally signed into law the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology in the Philippines.

Earlier, everything relating to IT came under the Department of Transportation and Communications. This made it impossible to focus on IT alone – there was just one Secretary in charge.

The right man for the job

Rodolfo Salalima has been named the new Secretary of the DICT. It is hoped that this move will give an impetus to all IT-related efforts, including Business Process Outsourcing. The law specifies that the Secretary can be only one who has seven years of experience in Information and Communications Technology.

Salalima more than fits the bill. A former adviser to Globe Telecom, he has also served as a Senior Vice-President at Ayala Corporation. He authored the book Telecommunications in the Information Revolution in 2015 and was also involved with the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) prior to his appointment.

The Bill also envisages four Assistant Secretaries under the Secretary, one of whom must be a licensed electronics engineer. Allan Cabanlong is the man selected by current President Rodrigo Duterte for his professional background. Interestingly, Salalima was a classmate of Duterte at the law school.

Currently, Philippines is one of the top destinations for BPO services.