RP BPO EARNS P7.3B
Opens 500T Jobs in ‘09
By Carla N. Cañet

President Gloria Ma-capagal Arroyo said yesterday the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines is now considered a global powerhouse with its tremendous growth from $0.02 billion in 2001 to $7.3 billion in 2009.

This industry has created 500,000 jobs in the country. This, she said, is a legacy she will leave behind before she ends her term in June this year.

She said, "This is a legacy of hard work, a strong and stable economy, renewed global engagement, major investments in health care and education, and dramatic improvements in the physical infrastructures like the Bacolod-Silay airport road, the Bacolod airport irrigation and RORO ports.

"Much work remains to be done, but I am determined to turn over to a new government a new Philippines ready for the challenge of bringing the nation to the verge of first world in 20 years," she said at theTeleperformance Bacolod site yesterday during her Cyber Corridor tour.

This Cyber Corridor tour, she said, is part of a tour of the Super Regions: Agri-business Mindanao, Tourism Central Philippines, the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle, the Luzon Urban Beltway and the Cyber Corridor.

"We designed them to spread development away from the inequitable concentration in Manila. The Cyber Corridor was identified by the private sector, the academe and government comprising the strongest potential locations for ICT investments like call centers, back office, software development, medical transcription, engineering design, animation and game development. It includes Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, the two original ICT centers of Excellence; and 10 urban areas being promoted as the best new destinations for ICT:

Metro Laguna; Metro Cavite; Iloilo; Davao; Bacolod; Metro Pampanga; Metro Bulacan; Cagayan de Oro; Central Bulacan and Lipa," she said.

Bacolod’s best assets are its people and their progressive mindset that spills over to the BPO employees who come from different parts of the region to live and work in Bacolod.

"During our administration, we completed the Bacolod-Silay airport and built the Bacolod-Silay access road, boosting Bacolod’s potential as an IT hub. With such infrastructure, Bacolod offers a conducive climate for ICT investments in the area. Some of the IT-BPO companies in the area include Teletech, Tele-performance and Conver-gy’s - the three larger call centers," she said.

The Philippines that has come a long way since January 2001, a tumultuous time for the country, a time when the nation was on the brink of political chaos and financial bankruptcy. The economy was jammed in reverse. Few investments were being made, few jobs were being created. The debt of the government and its corporations of P3.6 trillion was bigger than our GDP of P3.3 trillion.

There were almost no foreign reserves. It was a time of lower salaries and higher prices. Tax revenues were so low that we could hardly invest in expanding healthcare, improving education, and providing clean water and needed electricity to remote baran-gays.

Into this dismal picture, "I did not seek the Office of the President in 2001; it was thrust upon me. But rather than shirk from this onerous task, we rolled up our sleeves, determined to turn the Philippines around. We were focused like a laser beam on delivering real results to better the lives of ordinary Filipinos.

As an economist, I knew that to reverse years of economic decline we had to instill fiscal discipline, grow the economy and invest in human and physical insfrastructure. These actions would form the building blocks of a turnaround that would deliver an unprecedented 36 quarters of uninterrupted growth, create 9 million jobs, add 53 million people to healthcare, with government coffers that helped us withstand the global economic crisis."

Arroyo said that in her first State of the Nation Address in 2001, she said we could create wealth by developing the labor-intensive, skills-intensive services such as ICT. From scratch with only 2,000 workers, we created what is today a global power house: the Philippine BPO industry. We have achieved this by promoting strategic investments in three areas.

Meanwhile, Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue reported to President Arroyo that as of today, from a handful of outsourcing jobs in 2004, Bacolod serves as host to seven contact center companies that generated 7,000 jobs.

These translate to almost 3,000 seats or technically based on PEZA stanadards - a direct investment of more than 15 million dollars and the infusion of almost P80 million every month in terms of salaries in Bacolod. This is not including the ancillary services which have benefitted from the IT-BPO growth such as hotels, restaurants, department stores, transport, medical institutions and other business because of the increase in the purchasing power of almost 35,000 Negrenses and Bacolodnons who depend on the 7,000 workers.

Moreover, Arroyo made her cyber corridor tour at Te-leperformance in Bacolod City yesterday.

In June of 2006, President Arroyo addressed the National Convention of the Vice Mayor’s League at the Luxur Convention Plaza in Bacolod City and announced phased expansion plans to double U.S. offshore capabilities within the country starting with a new state-of-the-art facility in Bacolod City.

The following day,Tele-performance began construction on the first contact center at the Luxur Convention Plaza in Bacolod City.

That facility is now one of six Teleperformance contact centers in the Philippines and currently housing more than 850 work stations and over 1,300 employees.

With the opening of a seventh center in Quezon City in May, Teleperformance expects to grow to more than 10,000 work stations and over 15,000 employees in the Philippines by the end of this year.

Dominic Dato, Executive Chairman of Teleperformance USA said, "Teleperformance has achieved tremendous success in the Philippines. In this country, we get access to such high caliber customer service talent. For that reason, the Philippines is a very strategic location for us, as we continue delivering a superior customer experience for our clients."

Brent Welch, CEO of Teleperformance USA said, "We want to thank President Arroyo and her constituents for being here today and for continuing to support the expansion of Teleperformance in the Philippines. Since our first Metro-Manila center opening in 1996, the Philippines has grown to be one of our most successful hubs around the globe. Our clients have achieved unparalleled results in the Philippines and we look forward to continuing that success for years to come."

David Rizzo, President of Teleperformance Asia-Pacific added, "Bacolod City has helped write the success story for Teleperformance in the Philippines.

As much as Teleperfor-mance believes in the capabilities of the people of Negros Occidental, the people have shown their belief in us.

With the BPO industry’s support and leadership of Madam President Arroyo’s administration straight through to the local Bacolod government, Mayor Bing Leonardia and BNeFIT, Tele-performance and our Bacolod employees have developed a special relationship that has helped set the benchmark in quality service for our clients."*