The Bureau of Product Standards (BPS), an agency under the Department of Trade and Industry, voted for the Philippines upon the recommendation of a technical committee composed of different local industry stakeholders.  

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) conducted this February a re-evaluation of the voting process made late last year, allowing the Philippines, along with other ISO member countries, to modify or retain their respective positions.

During the initial round of balloting, Open XML (also known as Open Office XML or OOXML) came up short of the required number of votes for it to be become an ISO standard. The Philippines was one the countries which voted no then.

It is not known yet how the country's change of vote would affect the Open XML's fate as an ISO standard. The international body is expected to deliberate on the outcome of the re-evaluation process "within the week or next week," according to Jose Carlos Reyes, BPS project officer who made the Philippine vote in behalf of BPS director Jesus Motumol.

A CNET report said the ISO is expected to announce the results of the Open XML vote on Wednesday, April 2, to member countries, but a final tally was expected to be communicated to the public on Monday, April 7.

Unofficial tallies from industry observers indicate that the Open XML would be approved. Another Southeast Asian country, Singapore, has also voted to approve the new document format.

The nine members of the technical committee tasked to evaluate the country's position came up with a razor-thin 5-4 decision in favor of the Microsoft-backed document format, said Reyes in a
phone interview.

The voting process was as tight as it can get, with most representatives from the government sector
electing to reject the document format. However, the chair of the committee, Philip Barilla of the
Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), tilted the balance of power to the "yes" side.

Also voting in favor of the Open XML's approval were Peter Que of the Philippine Computer Society, Beng Coronel of the Philippine Software Industry Association, George Kintanar of the CIO Forum, and
Juan Chua of the Computer Manufacturers, Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines.

Casting the negative votes were Julie Sudario of the CICT's National Computer Center, Peter Banzon of the Advanced Science and Technology Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Prospero Naval of the computer science department of the state-owned University of the Philippines, and Darwin Santos of the DOST's Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development.

According to Reyes, a number of institutions, both local and international, fiercely articulated their
opposition to the document's approval as an ISO standard. Among those who wrote to express their
objection were open source advocates Red Hat, Google, and the ODF Alliance.

Reyes said the BPS also solicited the opinions of top industry groups ITAP (Information Technology
Association of the Philippines) and ITFP (Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines), but the organizations did not submit any position on the issue.

Though obviously elated by the development, the local subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. chose to highlight in its official statement the "transparent" process which the BPS adopted in resolving the issue.  

"The thoughtful consideration and input which the various stakeholders led by the BPS offered throughout this process illustrates a deep commitment to making technical improvements to the Open XML specification for the benefit of customers, partners and governments
around the world," said Mae Rivera-Moreno, PR and community affairs manager of Microsoft Philippines.

She added, "Regardless of the final outcome, an unprecedented number of national bodies sought to have a voice in the ongoing evolution of the specification and they have greatly improved it as a result of their deep commitment and thoughtful feedback."

Microsoft has originally developed the format but has transferred the format's IP ownership to ECMA, the European ICT standards body, which then decided to file an application at the ISO.

Microsoft executives have said that the current ISO standard, ODF or Open Document Format, does not guarantee future support for Microsoft Office. The company has also parried arguments that the industry no longer needs an additional document format, saying multiple standards exist or have existed before such as JPEG and TIF, VHS and Betamax, HD-DVD and Blu-ray.