Salmat Opens New Office in McKinley Hill Cyberpark

According to a report in the Manila Bulletin, Salmat, a publicly owned Australian business services firm, has opened a new facility in which to base its business process outsourcing (BPO) operations.

The new facility is located in a high-tech business district called McKinley Hill Cyberpark. Other firms with operations there include Hewlett-Packard, Accenture, Safeway, and Western Union. Recently, McKinley Hill Cyberpark was officially proclaimed an Information Technology (IT) Park by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In 2007, McKinley Hill Cyberpark was certified an ecozone by the Philippines Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). Companies locating there may enjoy a bevy of economic benefits, including "income tax holidays of up to eight years (and thereafter, payment of 5% tax on gross income in lieu of all national and local taxes and licenses), exemption from duties and taxes on capital equipment, permanent residence status for foreign investors, employment of foreign nationals, and the remittance of earnings from investments – the last of which applies to majority or wholly foreign-owned BPO firms – among others."

The cyberpark is part of McKinley Hill, a mixed-use township developed by the Megaworld Corporation, a publicly listed, Philippines-based company. Megaworld is a pioneer of the "live-work-play" model of development that has proven immensely appealing to the growing Filipino middle class. Megaworld is controlled by "taipan" Andrew Tan, who was ranked by Forbes Asia in 2008 as the fourth-richest man in the country. Tan's holding company, Alliance Global Group, owns a controlling stake of Megaworld.

McKinley Hill is located just south of Bonifacio Global City in the southeastern area of metro Manila.

Developments of this sort may help contribute to economic growth, but can they also help to reduce poverty?