DAVAO CITY — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is hopeful that this city will be a major contributor to the success of the cyber corridor project that aims to develop a strong cyber industry in the country.

During her recent visit here as part of her weeklong cyber corridor tour to the country's "Top 10 next wave cities", billed as the new destinations of the ICT industry, Arroyo was elated by the nearly 500,000 high quality technology workers here.

"This is the largest talent pool among the next wave cities. No other next wave city has that much number," she said.

The Top 10 Next Wave Cities include Metro Laguna, Metro Cavite, Iloilo, Bacolod, Metro Pampanga, Metro and Central Bulacan, Cagayan de Oro, Lipa, and Davao.

The President also lauded the city's three existing and six upcoming Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) IT parks and at least 18 operational call centers with almost 7,000 employees.

"Indeed, Davao has come a long way as far as ICT is concerned and the completion of the modern Davao International Airport made it possible...which was crucial in choosing Davao as a part of the cyber corridor project," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo also urged the city to play an active role in the government's promotion of strategic investments in digital infrastructure which encourages more broadband services within cities and identified growth areas.

"Here in Davao, all BPO facilities are supported by Bayantel, PLDT and Smart which offer broadband connections with resiliency and redundancy so that if one system fails, the others are still there," she said.

She likewise encouraged the city to invest in appropriate legal and policy environments.

"We want to let the people know that there's Davao that is part of the cyber corridor and one example of gaining ICT investors is by having a good intellectual property protection issue. That's a policy environment that promotes investment," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo also stressed the development of human capital to increase the country's share of the global ICT market, adding that one way of attaining such is by educating the young on the use of computers to spur the next generation of IT BPO workers.

"More than 4,000 public schools are now connected to the internet including 57 schools in Davao City," she said.