In order to solve the issue of competencies, be at par with the world’s education standards and at the same time respond to the demand of foreign companies outsourcing in the Philippines, the Department of Education is set to implement the K+12 basic education program starting next year 2012-2013 with the Department starting on converting first year high school to Grade 7.

The K+12 basic education plan consists of kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school (Grade 7 to 10), and two years of senior high school.

A bill that plans to create the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has already passed on for third reading in the House of Representatives. The DICT bill or House Bill 4667 seeks to boost and improve the country’s IT facilities by being the agency tasked in developing and implementing IT policies and government programs.

Chairman of the House ICT Committee and Taguig 2^nd District Representative Freddie R. Tiñga, said that the approval of the bill would also be the answer for the country’s need for an agency responsible for IT and communication facilities.

According to an article published by The New York Times, The Philippines is now the “New Capital of Call Centers”, a position previously associated with India. This is due to the continuing growth of call centers in the Philippines, which was also labeled as the “revolution” that has “reshaped the call center business” in the world. According to the article, the Philippines call center demographic is mostly made up of young people who speak lightly accented English” and are very well oriented with the American culture.

U.S. immigration lawyers in the Philippines are noticing a steady uptick in the number of E2 Treaty Investor Visas being issued out of the U.S. Embassy in Manila.  While technically a non-immigrant visa, an E2 visa allows people with a substantial amount of money to purchase entry into the U.S. and upon entering into the U.S. under this category, E2 visa holders are able to look for other opportunities which can lead to green cards and eventually U.S. citizenship.

With regards to the foreign ownership laws by its neighboring Asian countries, the Philippines is lacking initiatives on amending its laws to respond to the current global trading.  According to The Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA), it is time for Philippine lawmakers to review the existing foreign ownership laws of the Philippines. For CREBA, they believe that allowing foreigners to own land in the Philippines will encourage foreign investors to put bigger and more substantial investments in the Philippines and attract the much-needed capital that will create a butterfly in the country. CREBA also stated that foreign investment will also promote additional opportunities for local businesses and employment and raise additional government revenues from taxes.

Even if the outlook towards the local IT-BPO remains positive to very positive by the respondents of a recent survey by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P), both organizations related with outsourcing Philippines, stated that the BPO-IT industry needs greater visibility both locally and internationally for the industry to meet high-end growth targets.

According to the 179 executives surveyed, more than just settling at the idea that the country is being optimistic about the growth of the industry, the BPO industry and the Philippine government still need to do more than just “sell” the industry. The BPO industry should also sell the attributes and opportunities for potential offshore staff and their influencers more while the Philippine government should create a plan to increase the visibility of local IT-BPO industries and its capabilities.

Philippine real estate firm, KMC MAG Group has released its real estate market report Philippines or the real estate market research Manila for the Q3 of 2011.

The report contains summaries of the trends in commercial and residential real estate, as well as an office market overview in Metro Manila .

According to the report, the trend for the Q3 of 2011 are that rental rates of commercial spaces rose due to the increasing demand and low vacancy rates while the demand for residentials spaces surpassed the supply in the luxury residential market due to investments of the OFW and expat community. Also, the continuous construction of residential real estates has increased the overall vacancy rate in Metro Manila.

A series of bills in the House of Representatives seeks to make the BPO industry in the Philippines, which includes call centers in the Philippines, more attractive to potential investors.

According to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., among the bills already “moving” inside the House of Representatives are the Data Privacy Act, creation of the Department of Information and Communication Technology, and the Anti-Cyber Crime Act. These bills seeks to boost the position of offshoring Philippines.