Asia/Pacific Regional Seminar on Animation Culture and Industry for Promotion of Cultural Diversity (Tokyo, Japan, July 2008)

Transcription

1 Asia/Pacific Regional Seminar on Animation Culture and Industry for Promotion of Cultural Diversity (Tokyo, Japan, July 2008) Organised by The Association of the Japanese Animations (AJA) Introduction Country Report (Philippines) The Current State of Cultural and Industrial Government Policies on Animation in the Philippines RUDYARD CONTRERAS PESIMO ATENEO DE NAGA UNIVERSITY The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) has recognised the importance of the country s animation industry -- having achieved more than 25 years of global animation services, specifically in being a preferred outsourcing partner of big international production outfits worldwide. Philippine animation companies are subcontractors to major US, European, Japanese and Australian animation companies. Thus, the GRP has strategically formed the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P), an alliance of the country s top IT-BPO industries, including animation, to further strengthen their status and galvanise their stature in the world stage. 1. BPA/P represents the entire width and breadth of IT-enabled services in the Philippines. It represents all outsourcing and off-shoring IT and business process services, namely: BPO (Voice and Non-voice); IT services (Software Development, System Integration and Animation); Engineering/R&D services; and Allied services (Property Development, Systems Integration, Recruiting and Telecom). 2. BPA/P currently has 198 Regular Company Members and 5 partner Association members including the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI). In 2006 and 2007, 121 new members have signed up. Its target in 2008 is the addition of 60 new members. 3. On October 2007, BPA/P launched the Philippine Roadmap 2010 Report, a strategic plan for the Phil IT-BPO industry and employed a full-time management team responsible for leading key initiatives defined in the roadmap, which resulted in key partnerships with government, academia, vendors and international groups. 1

2 4. BPAP developed the Philippine IT-BPO roadmap to achieve a strong global #2 position in the world.to this end, Sec. Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua was appointed as the Philippine Government s Outsourcing Czar. 5. Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced the release of $10million worth of PGMA Scholarship grants for deserving students to be employed in BPO. The first release of these scholarship vouchers went to: Sector Amount # of Vouchers Call Centre 25 M 5,000 Animation 3 M 300 Medical Transcription 3 M 300 Software Development 4.5 M The Philippine IT-BPO industry currently has close to US$5.0 billion in revenues. Philippines is now the third outsourcing destination in the world, 2 nd outside of North America. This is a result of the main advantages that the Philippines offers to its global clientele: strong intrinsic skills, proficiency in the English language, strong cultural affinity to the U.S., large pool of talent, and competitive factor costs in labour, real estate, telecom and government incentives. 7. All sectors under the Philippine IT-BPO are growing at a tremendous rate. In 2007, the animation industry posted US$105M revenue. SECTORS 2007 REVENUES ($000,000) PAST 3 YEARS AVE GROWTH Contact Centre 3, Back Office (non-voice bpo) Transcription (non-voice bpo) Animation Software

3 Engineering/Design Process TOTAL Philippine IT-BPO (export only) 4, The Philippine identifies its high talent value proposition of a large pool of English-speaking professionals. Annually, over 400,000 college-degree graduates are produced out of the 90 million population. The labour force stands at 36 million with a literacy rate of 92.6%. Pop Labour Force Unemployment Rate Literacy World 6,602M 3,400M 6.3% 82.0% India 1,130M 509M 7.8% 61.0% China 1,322M 798M 4.2%* 90.9%* Brazil 190M 96M 9.6% 88.6% Philippines 90M 36M 7.9% 92.6% 9. The Philippines is viewed as a favourable location for BPO-IT services by top international IT think-tanks. Frost & Sullivan, August 2007: Philippines among top 10 shared services and outsourcing locations in the world. IMF, March 2007: The Philippines has established a strong presence in voice-based BPO sectors such as call centres, and there are also signs of growth potential in other offshore services, such as medical transcription and animation. Gartner, Dec 2007: The Philippines has become a destination for call centre and back-office finance and accounting operations; rates highly in cost, labour quality and language/cultural compatibility. Nomura Securities, November 2007: We think that the Philippines has grown into the No. 2 outsourcing base after India in call centre based BPO fields. Everest Consulting, April 2008: The Philippines is now the third largest destination geography for BPO services. 3

4 Frontier Strategy Group, September 2007: The Philippines is among seven key markets that are above the rest and are the most critical to achieving corporate growth and outperforming the competition in 2008 and beyond National Outsourcing Association (UK), October 2007: Philippines is awarded the Off-shoring Destination for On the legislative agenda, BPA/P is drafting a Position on arbitrary proclamation of Holidays. BPA/P has also started looking into Gainsharing Incentives bills and have just submitted a Position to both Houses. BPA/P is also drafting a position on wage increase issue. QT assisting BPA/P to consolidate all proposed amendments to Labour Code. Further, BPA/P has submitted its position on the Data Privacy and on Intellectual Property Rights. 1. Recently, the Animation Council of the Philippines conducted its Strategic Planning 2008 at Casa San Pablo, in San Pablo City, Philippines from July 12-13, The council endeavoured to revisit, revise and reaffirm the proceedings of StratPlan2005, and to assess, appraise and appreciate the performance of the industry in order to better position the country in the increasingly competitive nature of the global market. 3. After significant deliberation and meaningful discussions, ACPI has crafted a brand new Vision-Mission statement, to wit: A. Vision: ACPI shall be the Centre of Excellence for Animation in Asia. B. Mission: To be the prime mover in building the capability of the Philippines as the: 1. Creator of world-class original content; 2. Preferred provider of animation services in the Global market 3. Hub of animation education in the region. 4. ACPI has updated its three main objectives, namely: A. To facilitate the global promotion of the Philippine animation industry 1. By evolving a Filipino brand of animation 2. By enhancing the image of Philippine Animation 4

5 B. To facilitate proactive development of local talents to be able to meet the global demands 1. By increasing the number of animation artists and business professionals each year by at least 25% 2. By spearheading industry-based animation courses through partnerships with various stakeholders C. To encourage the development and production of original content 1. By providing assistance in looking for funding, and distribution channels 2. By providing avenues for promotion such as festivals and publications 3. By giving recognition to outstanding productions 4. By lobbying for legislations that will support productions 5