Two Philippine urban centers landed in the list of top 10 destinations for outsourcing companies this year, even as more areas in the country gain global attention.
Metro Manila was ranked 3rd while Cebu City took the 9th spot in the "2013 Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations" released by global outsourcing advisor Tholons.
"Today's current global market leader for voice BPO, the Philippines has proven that there's still more to gain in the services globalization industry," the report said.
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"Based on the events of 2012, the Philippines continued to garner interest from large, Western providers, not only as an offshore delivery location, but likewise as a potential rich domestic market for IT Services," it added.
Metro Manila was topped only by Indian cities Bangalore and Mumbai. It claimed the spot earlier occupied by another Indian city Delhi, now in 4th.
They were followed by the Indian cities Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune.
Cebu City also rose to being 8th from ranking 9th in the previous list, exchanging places with Dublin, Ireland.
Rounding out the list of 10 was Krakow, Poland.
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More Philippine IT-BPO hubs were also included in the top 100 destinations globally.
Davao, although slipping by a rank, got the 70th spot. Sta. Rosa City in Laguna climbed two spots to ranking 84th while Iloilo was 93rd.
Re-entering the list was Bacolod City, ranked 94th, while Baguio City gets included in the list for the first time at 99th.
Among its Southeast Asian neighbors, the Philippines was also said to have the "most vibrant IT-BPO industry."
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But the Philippines is expected to post an even better performance this year, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said.
"The year 2013 promises to be even greater as we expect revenues to increase to US$16 billion to provide employment to 926,000 Filipinos," said BPAP President and Chief Executive Benedict Hernandez.
He added that IT-BPO will remain the most robust sector in the country as firms address challenges and welcome more opportunities.
"We are steadfast in ensuring that the industry will achieve its targets of US$25 billion in revenues and 1.3 million full time employees by 2016," Hernandez said.
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