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Phivolcs bulletin: After two hours of extended observation period in the areas of Negros and Cebu islands that experienced a 6.9 magnitude earthquake of tectonic origin, there were no reports of unusual sea level changes. Hence, tsunami alerts for the Philippines are now CANCELLED. There is no more possibility of tsunami incident in the earthquake area.


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The Philippine Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) Industry is aiming to become one of the world leaders in four more fast growing offshoring and outsourcing services, namely: Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, HR Outsourcing and Animation and Game Development, as well as solidifying its lead in call centers in the coming years.

This was revealed in a joint press conference held by the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) on ICTO and BPAP’s new programs targeted to develop several key BPO market segments.

The Philippines recently overtook India as the call center capital of the world, and in 2011 the IT-BPO industry contributed approximately $11B in export revenues, about 640,000 direct jobs and approximately 1.5 million indirect jobs (e.g. construction and service jobs generated to serve the sector’s growth) to the Philippine Economy.

According to ICTO Deputy Executive Director Alejandro Melchor, “We are the world’s number one call center provider and we intend to attain market leadership in the UK and Australia as well. With our new development programs for the IT-BPO Industry we also intend to position the Philippines as a world leader in Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, HR Outsourcing, and Animation and Game Development. Our third goal is to double our market share by 2016 in Information Technology Outsourcing, Engineering Services Outsourcing and Multilingual BPO.”

 

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President Benigno C. Aquino III on January 12 this year signed Proclamation No. 313 declaring January of every year as “Philippine Tropical Fabrics (PTF) Month” to promote the judicious use of indigenous fibers in the country such as piña, banana, abaca, and Philippine silk. The Proclamation also aims to sustain the increased interest on local tropical fibers brought about by the celebration of the Philippine Tropical Fabrics Day on January last year as mandated by Proclamation No. 86.

The Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST-PTRI), which leads the research and development of technologies on the country’s tropical textiles, will spearhead the tropical fiber month celebration as designated by Pres. Aquino.

“The competitiveness of indigenous tropical fibers developed by PTRI is becoming known,” said DOST Sec. Mario Montejo. “Moreover, R&D work done on these fibers reveal they can have a broad variety of uses, from traditional formal wear to fashion accessories. Its prospects are bright.”

 

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As the cities of Iligan and Cagayan De Oro continue to reel from the huge swath of destruction of lives and property left behind by super typhoon “Sendong,” the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) introduced a locally-developed scientific flood warning system that offers a more responsive disaster preparedness mechanism for the country.

In an interagency meeting held recently, DOST Secretary Mario Montejo presented the National Flood Monitoring, Forecasting, and Mitigation Program-- an integrated, comprehensive system that responds to the urgent need for a reliable flood warning system covering the country’s major river systems and watersheds.

“The National Flood Monitoring Program is government’s commitment toward a more effective and efficient disaster mitigation and monitoring system. Too many lives have already been lost, and it is high time for science to step up to the plate and save lives this time around,” Montejo said.

The project received support from other meeting participants, including Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Ma. Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, including the undersecretaries from the interior and local government and environment departments. Leading the meeting was Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson.

The flood management program, according to Montejo, has four main components: the DREAM or the Disaster Risk Exposure, Assessment, and Mitigation; FLOODNET; Sensors Development and Weather Media.