IT Planning Workshop

The Department of Trade & Industry collaborated with Innove Communications through Globe Quest in the IT Planning Workshop held at the Bethel Guest House last June 1, 2006.

With the theme: “IT in Oriental Negros: Beyond Call Centers”, the activity aimed at providing a venue for an exchange of industry information and use it to craft an IT roadmap for the Province. The speakers in the morning presentations that focused on "Where are We Now" included: Mr. Frederick Dael, an accomplished Dumagueteno; TeleTech's Mr. Rommel Montano; Ms. Suzanne Lu-Bascara of SPI; Mr. Rolf Reierskog of IT Outlook; and Mr. Frederick Amores of the National Computer Center, Visayas.

Commissioner Dondi Mapa of the Commission on Information & Communications Technology facilitated the afternoon workshop that focused on “Where Do We Want to Go in the next 12 -18 months” and “How Do We Get There”.

Participants included key people from government and the academe, industry leaders and stakeholders who needed to understand the industry's problems and prospects . As it is IT has contributed so much to the development of our community in the last two years.

Give me a break!

As the saying goes, "all work and no play...". And that's just what the fun-loving people at DTI did in a recent out-of-town blitz to beat the heat as the summer sizzled in this part of the Philippines. The entire staff tackled the tracks leading to the twin of lake Balinsasayao, lake Danao. More than the sweaty and pulsating struggle up and down the rocky path, we literally felt challenged by the very naturalness of the place...Our photos say it all, we had fun! But more than the fun of it, the activity gave our tired and sleeping muscles some real workout. Tirelessly dragging ourselves with office work (and endless feeding sessions in the morning or afternoon) at the office or on field simply hardens our body joints, arms and legs that is why the idea of a mountain trip really shook us up to realize that this was something we needed. Til next summer people!

Seminar on Handling Consumer Complaints

DTI recently conducted a seminar on "Handling Consumer complaints" at the DTI Provincial Office. Held last April 26, seminar participants included frontliners (i.e. customer service personnel) of Lee Super Plaza, Hypermart and representatives of the Consumer Advocates Inc. (CAI), a private group of local consumer advocates. DA was represented by its Plant Quarantine Service Officer, Mr. Enrico Amores.

Price Bulletin Boards

The Provincial SK Federation, through its president Hon. Arvin Cabio, is set to turn over their donation of 10 price bulletin boards to the Consumer Welfare Officers (CWOs) of 10 pre-selected municipalities and cities, namely: Ayungon, Bais, Canlaon, Dumaguete, Guihulngan, Mabinay, Siaton, Tanjay, Valencia and Zamboanguita. The bulletin boards will be set up at strategic spots in the above-mentioned areas. The project is a joint effort of the SK federation and DTI. Turnover rites is set for Thursday, May 18 at the DTI provincial office.

BSMED conducts TOSCON

In view of the Small & Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) plan to upgrade SME centers, the BSMED implemented the Training of Small Business Counselors (TOSCON) during the first quarter of 2006. With the aim of strengthening the competency and effectiveness of the DTI Provincial SME Counselors in the management of SME Centers and in providing advisory services to SMEs, the training ran in two batches. DTI-NOPO's Ms. Bing Sumanoy represented the provincial office during the 2nd batch which was held on March 13-26 at the BSMED office in Makati City. The 1st batch was held February 27-March 11.

With funding from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through the Export Development Council (EDC), participants to the two-week training came from the 60 SME Centers that were not included in the 25 priority SME Centers.

BOI Capability Building Training for DTI Provincial Offices

Ms. Araceli Maypa, chief of the Trade & Industry Development Division of DTI-Negros Oriental, represented the office in the Capability Building Training Program for DTI provincial offices on the Board of Investments (BOI) registration requirements and procedures.

Aiming to localize BOI registration utilizing the provincial offices, the training-workshop was held on April 5-6, 2006 in Tagbilaran City and participated in by provincial directors and industry development division chiefs all over Central Visayas. In the said workshop the following areas were covered: the Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) and specific guidelines; Incentives to BOI/PEZA-registered enterprises; General Policies; Procedures on Processing of Applications for the registration of investment projects; and the Supervision and Monitoring of BOI-registered enterprises.

Before the end of the workshop, the group agreed on a specific monitoring system/procedure. Workshop facilitators were no less than BOI Executive Director Lucita P. Reyes and Dir. Rudy B. Cana.

ONIA runner-up joins Nebraska business plan competition

The team e-UREKA, 2nd runner-up winner in the Oriental Negros Innovation Awards 2005-2006 competition recently joined the New World Ventures business plan competition in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The competition was held April 6-8, 2006 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lincoln and is one of the many events of its kind in the United States. Although admittedly their plan "i-Kard" needed more fine-tuning and further research, to e-UREKA Information & Advertising Officer Irene Rafil (the group’s lone representative to the competition), the experience was most rewarding, having been the only Asian team that made it to the finals. Her team was one of the over 60 applicants that qualified to submit the required executive summary of the plan, and out of the 60 moved up to the top 26 and eventually made it to the top 4 finalists in the graduate category. According to Ms. Rafil, the competitors, who mostly came from North America, were very professional, aggressive and experienced. Most of them were already “hands-on” in their businesses and their plans were either in the fields of agriculture or medicine, and, according to Ms. Rafil, iKard was the only entry that was into IT. During the Q&A portion, the judges told Irene that their plan “will not” work out in the U.S. but that it had a big market potential in the Asian region.

So what now for iKard? The group is set to go further into the business that they have started to establish. With their ONIA and Nebraska experience, they have realized that with determination, things are only starting for them. They also plan to join other forthcoming business plan competitions in Asia. Meantime they are in the process of establishing their presence in four big campuses in Dumaguete.

DTI joins BIARSP Info Fair

DTI was invited to join the “Info Fair” sponsored by the Belgian Integrated Agrarian Reform Special Project (BIARSP) at the Sky Deck of Bethel Guest House last Tuesday, April 18, 2006.
The fair was part of the day-long activity in line with the Comprehensive Rural Entrepreneurial Academy (CREA) graduation. CREA is a BIARSP-funded program to support front liners in rural development of DAR and the municipalities which aimed at enhancing the participants’ knowledge and skills in entrepreneurial know-how and leadership.

Other government and private institutions that joined the fair were: DAR, DA, TESDA, FIDA, CDA, the Provincial Agriculturist’s Office, Land Bank of the Phils., and the Silliman University Extension Program. During the fair participating institutions also presented their respective institutional profiles and thrusts.

DTI conducts mobile business name registration

As part of DTI’s thrust in bringing service closer to the people, DTI has scheduled its regular conduct of mobile business name registration in different parts of the province.

On April 19, the entire staff of the Trade & Industry Regulatory Division (TIRD) headed by its chief, Dr. Angeline Gonzales, was in Tanjay City for one whole day to conduct various monitoring activities. On the same day they also issued a total of 200 application forms for business name registration. Apparently during an earlier inspection by the monitoring team, a number of establishments in the City were found to have no DTI-registered business names, hence, the need for the mobile registration. They also did random checking of price tags and weighing scales at the Tanjay City public market. Out of the 160 weighing scales inspected, 40 were confiscated due to defects.

Incidentally, TIRD staff Ms. Addie Balatayo also conducted an inspection for the ETC (Emission Testing Center) accreditation of JPV in nearby Bais City on the same day. JPV is one of the three emission testing centers in the province, the other two being PNL and Hi-Point, all Dumaguete-based facilities with branches in Bais and Bayawan Cities.

The team is again set to go to Bayawan City on May 16 for the “Halad Sa Pangulo” program, government’s initiative for the people of the southern part of Oriental Negros to avail of the services of various government agencies right at their doorstep.

NegOr participants reap top NTF awards

Negros Oriental producers that joined the National Trade Fair (NTF) 2006 held last March 15-19 at the SM Mega Mall reaped top awards. NOAH of Bacong got the top selling prototype and top seller awards while Orient Gifts got the top seller for fashion accessories award.

NOAH has been a consistent winner for the last four years, and with this year’s performance coupled with that of Orient Gifts, they added to the laurels of Region 7, making it the top selling region on the national level.

Organized by the Department of Trade & Industry through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the NTF is an annual market promotion for countryside entrepreneurs that have potential to serve both the domestic and international markets. As it is, the highlight of trade fair participation is the generation of cash sales and booked orders from buyers (i.e. exporters, export traders, institutional buyers and importers) who visit the show.

DTI-CARP Coordinators' Quarterly Conference

DTI-NOPO’s CARP team, Melvin Badon and Tammy Sevilla, attended the regional quarterly coordinators’ conference in Cebu City last March 23-24. Held at the Crown Regency Hotel in Guadalupe, Cebu City, the conference’s highlights included the review of accomplishments vis-à-vis the 2005 workplan and presentation of the 2006 work plan per province on day one. Day two was dedicated to site visits to the OTOP Center in Car-Car, Cebu’s “shoe capital”, and the pandan bags of Barili.

DTI conducts assessment of OTOPS

TIDD chief Araceli Maypa, together with three staff visited different areas in the north and south to assess the status of the OTOPs in different parts of the province. On March 16-17, the group visited Tanjay City (bod-bod), Bindoy (mango), Amlan (jackfruit or nangka), and Sta. Catalina (VCO). The assessment was also part of the provincial office’s campaign for participants to the regional trade fair to be held in Tagbilaran City in July, in time for Bohol’s Sandugo Festival.

DTI-Neg Or holds LSM to local IT facilities

The DTI-NOPO staff conducted a one-day local study mission (LSM) on Mar. 6 to four IT companies that have set up operations in Oriental Negros. Starting at 8:00 in the morning, the staff visited SPI Technologies, Entheos IT, SEAT IT and TeleTech. The tour gave us, the staff, the opportunity to see for ourselves and get the feel of how BPOs operate. In a way, it allowed us to get a better perspective of the growing IT industry in the province.

Consultative Meeting with IT companies

Governor George P. Arnaiz called for a consultative meeting with top key players of the IT industry that have put up facilities in Negros Oriental – SPI Technologies and TeleTech to get the latest developments in their respective IT lines. SPI CEO Ernest Cu, Bacong site manager Suzanne Bascara and Ian Bellord attended on behalf of SPI. Teletech was represented by its business development manager Mr. Veneeth Iyengar and site manager Mel Montano .

Initiated by DTI, the meeting took place at the Jordan I Hall of Bethel Guest House last March 3. Also present during the meeting were DTI's Jong Fortunato and Araceli Maypa, Vice-Mayor William Ablong, City Planning Officer Josie Antonio, Provincial Planning Officer OIC Joy Gongob, the Investment Promotion Center (IPC)’s Francisco Martinez and John Jalandoni; the city’s higher education institutions represented by outgoing SU president Dr. Agustin Pulido, NORSU president Dr. Henry Sojor and FU’s VP for finance Mr. Dean Sinco.