URDANETA CITY — It’s official. Pangasinan is now the Information and Communication Technology hub of North Luzon.

Vice-governor Oscar Lambino and Urdaneta Mayor Amadito Perez officially announced that the province was going to be the ICT center of the north during the First Forum on Business Process Outsourcing last Wednesday, Jan. 19 here.

Lambino  noted that no less than President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo made the declaration earlier this year when she justified this with the population, telecommunications infrastructure and land resources of Pangasinan compared to other provinces.

Mayor Perez added that the perfect location of Pangasinan being at the crossroads of Ilocos, Cordillera and Region 2 will also spur the business growth here as a result of the presence of the contact centers.

He said that one call center in Urdaneta would contribute greatly to the economy, “Urdaneta will be the boom town of progress in North Luzon.”

Lambino noted that Pangasinan had all the requisites of the ICT hub and gave credit to former president Fidel Ramos who prepared the power sources and telecommunications infrastructure 10 years ago.

“We are information literate and have ICT, we support the endeavor,” he told some 77 participants and investors at the forum.

Board of Investments Governor, lawyer Consuelo Perez, encouraged the government leaders, private university owners, and teachers present to look into the setting up of contact centers in Pangasinan given the advantages of the availability of resources.

She told the investors present: Synergia CyberCare Inc.; Gigalink Information Telecom, Inc.; Bitstop, Inc; InfoDataSys; and MedScribe Asia, Inc. that tax incentives were ready for the locators or investors in Pangasinan.

 She said that by bringing the contact centers to Pangasinan, the skilled labor here would stay instead of going abroad or going to Manila for employment, thus healing and preserving the social fabric of the nation. In effect, it would boost the local economy because money earned would also be spent in the same area.

Wilson  Chua, owner of   Bistop, Inc, an IT company located in Dagupan and co-sponsor of the forum on outsourcing told participants that the two major power plants in San Roque and Sual, the 2.5 million population, the presence of more hospital beds, five major universities, and the presence of competitive telecommunications companies like – Digitel, PLDT, Globe, Bayantel, and Smart are facilities that investors are looking for.  

“Better jobs will be here, no need to go abroad. Prices of real estate will go up due to demand for land. We are also assured of a 15 percent increase in the business yearly,” Chua said.

In  November, Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim launched the “Round Table Discussions on Call Center” in Dagupan City and rallied the universities and businessmen of Pangasinan to prepare for the location of Contact Centers in Dagupan.

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