By Luel Galarpe/PNA
CEBU CITY – The annual Visayas ICT Organizations (VICTOR) Conference will be hosted this year by Bogo City, which is about 100 kilometers north of here, on February 21-22.
Department of Information and Communications Technology-Central Visayas (DICT-7) Assistant Regional Director Frederick Amores said Wednesday the conference is an annual gathering of the Visayas ICT Council Cluster to share information and updates on the trends and challenges in the digital world.
With the theme, “Moving Forward Towards Digital Countryside,” Amores said the seventh edition of the confab is aimed to promote Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry development, generate investments, and create new jobs for the cities and municipalities in the countryside.
“This is why we, the organizers, have decided to bring the Conference to Bogo, a more remote but progressive city in Cebu, and introduce to the city and its neighboring towns some doable and affordable ICT solutions for them,” Amores said during the Kapihan sa PIA (Philippine Information Agency) Cebu forum.
The annual conference is jointly organized by VICTOR, National ICT Federation of the Philippines (NICP), and DICT.
Bogo City ICT Department head Roger Toñacao, who was with Amores and Cebu IT-BPM. Organization (CIB.O) managing director Wilfredo Sa-a Jr. at the forum, said Mayor Carlo Martinez agreed to host this year’s confab as the event will give the city opportunities to improve its economy and generate jobs for its constituents.
“What better way for us to improve our economy than to go towards the direction of ICT,” said Toñacao, who is also the president of the Bogo ICT Council.
The conference will be highlighted by an ICT Job Fair on February 22, said Sa-a, who added that big Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) partner companies have been invited to join the event.
Topics lined up for discussion in the two-day gathering include Catching Up with the Digital World, Creating Digital Cities, Rural Impact Sourcing – Developing Countryside Outsourcing, Better Livelihood Using ICT, and the creation of the Tagbilaran Information Technology/Business Process Management (IT/BPM) Ecosystem.
Acting DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio is expected to deliver a message and share some updates on the government’s ICT programs during the opening program.
