PGMA pushes for high-value BPO services

CLARK FREEPORT– President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday nudged the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to shift from low-paying, voice-activated call centers to high-value, non-voice accounting, legal, human resources, and administration services.
Mrs. Arroyo, however, assured the private sector of minimum government regulations and intervention in business.
“The role of government is not to dictate but to create the environment that would nurture growth in the industry,” the President said at the 2nd National Information and Communication Technology Confederation of the Philippines (2nd NICP) Summit held at the Fontana Convention Center here. The event was attended by hundreds of ICT experts in the country.
Since assuming office in 2001, the President said, she has been pushing for labor-intensive service sectors such as Information Communication Technology (ICT) and tourism that would allow young Filipinos to land high-paying jobs in the country instead of going abroad.
In the past eight years, government has spent P5 billion to build the necessary BPO infrastructure and interconnectivity and to train people for the sector. Government has also put in place a policy and legal environment conducive to doing business in the country.
“We have invested three times what the past three administrations spent in (BPO) training,” the President said.
As a result, BPOs have expanded their operations in the last eight years from 4,000 workers in 2001 to 400,000 this year.
Location sites are no longer confined to Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. The industry is now operating as well in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Iloilo, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Pampanga, and Bulacan.
Today, Central Pampanga, which includes Clark, has the third largest BPO business in the country, employing 50,000 workers, next only to Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.
This year, the Philippines won for the second time the distinction of being the “Best Offshoring Destination” given by United Kingdom’s National Outsourcing Association, besting Egypt, Russia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. The country first received the award in 2007.
The countries were evaluated on country advantages and appeal to UK companies, level of market penetration in the UK, and areas of outsourcing available in the country.
“Indeed the Philippines ranks as one of the best offshore hubs in the world because of cost competitiveness and, more importantly, our highly trainable, English-proficient, IT (information technology)-enabled management and manpower,” the President said.
“Our having won the ‘Offshore Destination of the Year’ again also highlights the very importance of the Philippines’ IT-BPO industry in the global market.
“The BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity,” she added.