Catching the Next Wave

The 10 Next Wave Cities identified last year by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (www.bpap.org) include six areas in the "Mega Manila" area, two in the Visayas, and two on the island of Mindanao.

My personal interest is in the two Visayan locations, as the Visayas is my favorite part of this country. But my plan is to visit all 10 in coming months, to give a fair-minded report on them, personal bias aside. For now, I've posted a picture of Bacolod City, one of the two Visayan locations identified by BPAP. It's actually only a 45-minute ferry ride from Iloilo City, the other Visayan Next-Wave City.

Bacolod is considered in some quarters as the greatest place to live in the Philippines, with a combination of low cost, decent infrastructure, and warm, Visayan culture. It has an energetic advocate and aspiring politician named Jocelle Bataga-Sigue, who's doing a lot of good work in trying to attract business to her city.

I've met her, spoken with her, and may get to interview her formally some day if she ever slows down a bit and lets me catch her!