MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines was again named the world?s top outsourcing destination by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA), an industry body based in the United Kingdom.

Held last October 15 in London, the annual NOA awards also awarded Cebu City as this year?s ?Best Emerging Offshoring City? while Manila was ranked third among top global outsourcing cities, behind two cities in India.

NOA is an outsourcing trade association that advocates best practices in outsourcing and recognizes excellence in the industry. The Philippines earned the same award in 2007.

Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III believes this recent recognition boosts the country?s claim of being a close second to outsourcing powerhouse India.

The country?s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry last year generated $6.1 billion in export revenues and employed about 400,000 workers, according to latest figures from local industry body Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

BPAP chief executive Oscar Sanez said the industry continues to grow between 30-40 percent and remains ?unscathed from the global recession?. The industry also continues to operate despite the recent disasters brought about tropical storms, which affected Metro Manila including areas that have outsourcing operations.

In the next two years, Sanez said the industry continue to grow at a rate of 23 to 26 percent and employ about a million Filipinos.

The BPAP and CICT will spearhead a Philippine delegation in attending two outsourcing summits in the UK this November.