The country’s Trade Department admitted that some investors in the IT-BPM industry are still having trouble establishing their businesses, especially when dealing with local government units in some regions, despite the enabling law to prevent red tape.

In a conversation with reporters during the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) on Monday, Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said she knew about the problems of red tape being faced by some IT-BPM investors when she had a meeting with them last year.

“They have some problems with the LGU, so I set them a meeting with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla to discuss their issues. The President told us to work on this, and the result is good. We have to take care and protect this industry because they provide a lot of jobs for Filipinos, aside from being high-paying,” Roque said.

Last year, IBPAP reported that the year 2024 for their industry was a milestone after they reaped $38 billion in revenues and provided 1.82 million jobs for the Filipino workforce.

The group’s president, Jack Madrid, also revealed that some of their members are experiencing hassle when applying for permits outside Metro Manila despite the presence of the Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Act, which aims to entice entrepreneurs to open up their businesses in the Philippines by expediting business and non-business transactions, including the issuance of permits and licenses, and holding government officials accountable for graft and corruption, amending the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.

Due diligence

Despite this, Roque told would-be business owners to exercise due diligence in choosing the place where their businesses would be established, as LGU protocols vary.

“I also told them that when they open (businesses), they have to do due diligence. They also need to check the thrust of the LGU. Some LGUs are pro-industrialization, but there are still some that are pro-culture and heritage. So, for them, they would rather have their town as a tourist spot, not a highly industrial town, and vice versa,” she said.

Further, she urged business owners to have a good working relationship with the mayors to ensure a harmonious business environment.

“If they are bringing in restaurants, retail, then they are bringing in revenue to the town, so why would they make life harder for them? But they don’t have any relationship, so they don’t know each other, so there’s a problem,” Roque said.

Happy with support

Meanwhile, IBPAP president Madrid said his team is very happy with the high level of support that the Secretary has shown since she started as the head of the DTI.

He said he remains optimistic about the growth prospects of the industry as more and more IT-BPM investors want to come to the country.

“We just need to be serious about the reskilling, upskilling, and cross-skilling of our talents. We have the demographics saying that we have 700,000 university graduates a year. We need them to be employable. But we have to make sure that these graduates have relevant skills for the new types of work in the future, as the work that we do keeps changing, not because of AI, but because of the nature of work. So, we must adapt,” he said.

“We need to encourage our students and job seekers to continue to compete because we are already at 1.82 million digital workers, and we want to cross 2 million in the next 12 to 18 months, exceeding our baseline. We will cross $40 billion by the end of the year,” Madrid emphasized.

This July, IBPAP will be announcing its recalibrated roadmap, as announced last year.

Based on the earlier launched Roadmap 2028, the industry targets to end 2028 with 2.5 million full-time workers and $59 billion in revenues.