The Philippines has won the 2009 Offshoring Destination of the Year category at the 4th National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards held October 15 at Park Plaza Riverbank in London. The Philippines bested Egypt, Malaysia, Russia and Sri Lanka among others. This is the second time that the country bagged the prestigious award category. The first time was in 2007.

The NOA is the UK's only outsourcing trade association. Advocating best practice, the NOA represents outsourcing end users, vendors and other companies which support outsourcing, such as legal firms, consultancies and HR. It is likewise involved in research, events, education and public affairs. In the past four years, the NOA has set high standards in the recognition of outsourcing as a legitimate business practice. The awards also give recognition to companies or people worldwide who exhibit excellence in the field of outsourcing.

"This is a most welcome and fitting recognition to our local outsourcing industry," remarks CICT Sec. Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III. "The award just shows that our outsourcing sector is world class and has the capacity to compete among the best. We give our heartfelt congratulations to everyone who has made this possible."

“Time and again, the Philippines has validated its status as a world BPO market leader. We at the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) will continue to give our efforts in making the industry achieve bigger and greater milestones.” says BPAP, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Oscar Sanez.

The Philippine BPO industry generated 6.1 billion US dollars in export revenues in 2008 employing close to 400,000 workers making the Philippines the world's second biggest BPO player next only to India. BPAP is the umbrella trade association of the Philippine BPO industry representing the entire spectrum of BPO and IT-enabled services including customer service, back office outsourcing, software development, engineering design, digital animation, and game development.

The CICT is the lead government agency tasked to oversee the development of ICT in the Philippines, including ensuring the growth of the IT-BPO industry.

Next month, a 15-member business delegation led by BPAP and CICT will be holding a Philippine BPO Networking Forum in London on November 16-17. After the event, the group will be participating at NOA’s 7th Annual Sourcing Summit on November 18-19 at the Guoman Tower Hotel. Both Sec. Roxas-Chua and Oscar Sanez will be speaking before the plenary on the second day of the UK conference.

BPAP submitted the Philippine entry for the NOA category nomination with the help of the Philippine Commercial Attache’s office in London.