GMA Orders BPO master plan
Cities need to maximize Business Process Outsourcing
Addresses APEC Business Council today
By Genalyn Kabiling

Mactan, Cebu—President Arroyo yesterday ordered her economic managers to draw up a “master plan” that would capitalize on the booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Convinced of its huge potential for investments and employment, the President, in her bid to improve the country's global competitiveness, wants a blueprint on how the Philippines could capture a larger share of the burgeoning BPO service sector with skilled human capital as edge so the Philippines can become an ideal outsourcing destination.

Presidential Adviser for International Competitiveness Roberto Romulo said the President, who flew here yesterday, convened a strategic planning session with her International Board of Advisors and senior executives in the BPO sector on the development of the lucrative industry.

The President is asking the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), headed by Secretary Peter Favila, and former Ambassador Cesar Bautista, co-chair of the private-public task force, to come up with a master plan on how to become internationally competitive in business process outsourcing, Romulo said in a news conference at the Shangri-La Hotel there.

Romulo, who also chairs the APEC Business Advisory council Philippines , said Favila and his team would give specific target dates to produce the master plan to shore up the BPO industry in the country.

He said the President met a group of foreign economic advisers here to learn more about the BPO.

The meeting was held on the eve of the Presidents address at the 10 th Anniversary Conference of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) at the same hotel.

Romulo said: “This is a landmark even because the President acknowledges in this globalizing world we have to try to achieve to be better than we are today.”

The planning session also discussed means to create more BPO sector jobs by positioning the Philippines as a competitive location for higher-value-added outsourcing services.

Romulo noted that around 200,000 Filipinos are now employed at more than a hundred BPO and call center companies, compared to less than 2,000 employees in just four call centers in 2003, despite fierce international competition.

“We are definitely in the radar screen as far as call centers and BPOs are concerned. However we cannot rest of these laurels and we have to move forward and ask experts how we get more,” he said.

Romulo said the Philippines could wrest global supremacy from India in the field of BPO, particularly in medical tourism and logistics, citing the world-class English proficiency skills and work ethics of Filipinos. The Arroyo government has actively promoted BPO and call center industry as means to reduce unemployment and earn foreign exchange for the country.

To attain global Filipino call center leadership, the President has allocated a PhP 500-million fund for the Training for Work scholarship program for Filipinos who want to work in BPO companies and call centers. The President said she expects call center seats and business process outsourcing (BPO) employees to reach two million in 2010 from the current number of 125,000.

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Originally published in the Manila Bulletin on August 12, 2006, page 1. Reprinted with permission.