Presenting... The Philippine DCOM

Last Wednesday, I was invited to a small gathering of the key players in the digital commerce industry of our country now. They are the people behind famous sites that we usually turn into now when we need to buy or to check out something. And that night, amidst their uber busy schedules, they make way to the  induction of officers of the newly-registered Digital Commerce Association of the Philippines, Inc. or DCOM.

Being a client or buyer of groupon sites, it was really my pleasure to finally see in person and met the men and women behind the famous Multiply, Cashcash Pinoy, Fiera de Manila, Inc., Shopinas.com Xurpas, Inc., eLearningEdge, TechCellar, ClassifiedAds.ph, Sulit.com.ph, NetBoosterAsia, Groupon Philippines, YugaDeals,Inc., TechForge Online, Mozcom, Inc., Global Engine Corporation and many, many more.

Secretary Gregory L. Domingo

Department of Trade and Industry

For me, it was like an Oscar's of the digital commerce of our country, and together with Department of Trade and Industry secretary, Mr. Gregory L. Domingo, they inducted the first set of officers for this new established organization.

Jonatahn 'Jack' R. Madrid

Country Head, Multiply

Frederic Levy

President, Cashcash Pinoy

Headed by its president, Mr. Jonatahn 'Jack' R. Madrid, Country Head of Multiply, new directors of DCOM Nix Nolledo, Chairman and President of Xurpas Inc, Hans Eric Roxas-Chua, CEO of eLearningEndge, Roberto Gantuangco, General Manager of TechCellar, Anton Sheker, President of ClassifiedAds.ph, Me-Ann Bundalian, Business Development and Marketing Manager of Sulit.com.ph, Crisela Cervantes, Regional Account Manager of NetBoosterAsia, Dave Condon, Chief Operations Officer of Groupon Philippines, James Perez, President of YugaDeals Inc., Joseph Segovia, Chief Marketing Officer of TechForge Online, Robertson Chiang, Chief Operations Officer of Mozcom, Inc. and Gelard Yuvallos, CEO of Global Engine Corporation, took an oath to pursue the mission of DCOM.

DCOM stands to primarily promote and advocate digital commerce (both internet and mobile) in the country. Its mission is to make Filipino merchants globally competitive in digital commerce space through:

1. Establishing standards and best practices for a friendly and secured digital commerce industry.
2. Teaching Filipino merchants how to properly leverage on digital commerce.
3. making the Philippines digital commerce industry attractive for trade and investments.
4. Partnering with government in shaping sound policies on digital commerce.

DCOM has just been registered in SEC last January 27, 2012 only and is currently in the process of drafting its Program of Activities for the Year, as well as simultaneously drafting the Membership Guidelines, which will impact the proposed industry 'Trust Seal' for bonafide online merchants and the establishment of Industry Standards, Code of Ethics and Best Practices for digital commerce (internet and mobile) in the Philippines.

So far, there are 19 registered founding members of DCOM, and they are Monching Romano of Divisoria.com, Richmond Lim of Time Depot, Mau San Andres of Asia Pay, Abe Olandres of Yugatech, Neejah Peswani of eBay/Great Value Plus, Oliver Segovia of Ava.ph, Patrick Pulumbarit of Fly SeAir, Jay Fonacier of OdusseyLive.net, Ericson Recana of CompLink.com.ph, Jojo Anonuevo of Ensogo, Edna Belleza of 88DB Philippines, Vincent Caducio of Organica/Sleepasil, Cila Chua of Pisobid.com, Dustin Andaya of IslandRose.net, Eduardo Mapa of Media Contacts Philippines, Maritess Suplico of Goodwill Trading, Ean Abastillas of Zest Air and Melissa Limcaoco of Smart Communication Inc.

I believe, things like this or putting up an organization like this has two sides of the coin. Some may still be unsure about it, but with the turnout of the event that night, I must say that it was somehow a relieve to know that there's an organization or group of people that will take good care of these online "businesses" now.

This is one of the "change" that we have to embrace, right? I just hope that DCOM will bring the best of every Pinoy to the world.

Congratulations, DCOM, and to your new board of directors and members!
Cheers!