Former official of BPO says GMA should be credited for

growth of industry
 Written by Charlie V. Manalo
 Friday, 03 October 2014 00:00

A former top executive in the business process outsourcing and information technology (IT)
industry yesterday asserted it was former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo who laid the successful model that led to the growth of the BPO industry.

Oscar Sañez, who served as CEO of the IT and Business Processing Association of the
Philippines (IBPAP) from 2007 to 2011, said the BPO industry owes much of its growth to the
former President because she laid a successful model for the industry.
“As the CEO of the BPAP from 2007 to 2011, I know how much the business process offshoring
and outsourcing sector owes Mrs. Arroyo. We are proud to describe ourselves as a successful
model of real private public partnership or PPP,” Sañez said in a statement.
Sañez said he issued the statement after hearing President Aquino often referring to the term of
the former President as a “lost decade.”
“It is disappointing to read about President Aquino’s frequent references to the term of President
Arroyo as a ‘lost decade,’” he said, adding he should present a “more objective assessment of
how his predecessor performed when he delivers his public pronouncements.”
Sañez pointed out industry figures, which are of official and public record, would show that the
BPO grew impressively under the watch of Mrs. Arroyo because of her support.
“From only 2,400 call center workers in 2000, the BPO sector grew to nearly half a million
workers by the end of 2009, PGMA’s last full year in office. The industry grew on the average
by an astounding 65 percent per annum over the decade. Total export revenues generated by the
IT-BPO industry grew from only $1.3 billion in 2003 to $8.9 billion in 2010,” he said.
He added the growth was fuelled by the “support initiatives” of the former President which
included encouraging the establishment of BPAP; creating the Commission on Information and
Communication Technology-CICT; providing investor support through BoI and PEZA, which
included accrediting buildings used by the industry; driving regional initiatives under CICT
(Cyber Corridor) and the Department of Trade and Industry’s Regional Operations and
Development Group; completing infrastructure programs such as airports, and investing in
training vouchers from Tesda worth over P800 million from 2007-09 alone.
Mrs. Arroyo, he further stated, led many investment missions in the United States and United
Kingdom to host IT-BPO investment presentations and reception events that resulted in record
foreign investment gains for the country.
Because of such support, the IT-BPO industry has become a significant component of the
Philippine economy which he said should be one of Mrs. Arroyo’s “enduring legacies” which the
Filipinos should be thankful for.
“Today the IT-BPO industry, together with our OFWs, employs hundreds of thousands of young
people, contributes to the liquidity that drives general prosperity and stabilizes the
macroeconomy against external shocks. This is an enduring legacy that we can thank Mrs.
Arroyo for,” he stressed.
He also stated that he is sure there are many success stories under the Arroyo administration that
should be brought out.
“I am sure there are many others who, like me, have their own success stories to tell about
PGMA,” he said.

Teves: GMA reforms still benefiting economy

 Written by Tribune Wires
 Sunday, 19 October 2014 00:00

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has instituted fiscal and
economic reforms that are benefitting the country up to present.
This was the pronouncement made yesterday by former Finance Secretary Margarito Teves
during the Saturday Forum at Anabel’s restaurant in reaction to President Aquino’s statement
that the Arroyo administration was a “lost decade” in Philippine history.
On the contrary, he pointed out, the Arroyo administration had laid the foundation which resulted
in the Philippines’ credit rating upgrades which started during her

term and shortly after she stepped down from office.

“Data show that contrary to Pres. Aquino’s reference to the Arroyo administration as a ‘lost
decade,’ the Arroyo administration and Department of Finance had initiated several positive
reforms that are benefitting the Philippine economy until today,” he said.
He pointed out that her prudent management of the national government debt and the passage of
legislation in support of financial market development like the reformed Value Added Tax have
contributed to the strong fiscal performance of the country which resulted into credit outlook
upgrades from negative to stable during the Arroyo administration and positive shortly after July
2010 when the former President stepped out of Malacanang.
In fact he pointed out, Fitch’s upgrade in March 2013 noted that it was former President
Arroyo’s “improvements in fiscal management .. that made general government debt dynamics
more resilient to shocks.”
He also said the previous administration’s strong focus on tax reforms paved the way for
increased tax revenue collection generating the highest revenues by any single measure adopted
under any administration.
“The full-year impact was P76.9 billion in 2007 or 1.1 percent of GDP,” he said.
GMA’s “Strong Republic Nautical Highway” (SRNH) improved connectivity in the country by
integrating land and sea modes of transportation, he further said saying Indonesia later followed
SRNH model.
He further said President Aquino should give credit to Mrs. Arroyo and members of the finance
team by acknowledging their contributions to build a stronger economy.
“I believe it would be fair to give credit to former President Arroyo and our colleagues at the
Department of Finance for the hard work they have done from 2005 to 2010 and acknowledge
the contributions of the previous administration in building the foundations of a stronger
economy,” he said.
When asked to assess the current administration, Teves said he is commending Aquino’s
administration for sustaining the economic growth that was initiated during Arroyo’s term.
He, however, noted that the growth is still not inclusive.
“The challenge for President Aquino’ s administration is not only to make the economy grow
faster, but more importantly, how to make economic growth more inclusive,” he said.
To do this, Teves said, the Aquino administration and the next administration must raise
infrastructure spending to five percent of GDP from the present three percent and focus
investments on infra bottlenecks that increase the cost of doing business, modernize the
agricultural sector, simplify the application process to build and operate power plants, create a
stable regulatory environment which honors contracts with investors, address inconsistencies
between increased tax collection and distortionary tax regime and improve access to basic
financial services such as credit, savings, remittances and insurance.