MANILA, September 18, 2012-Senator Edgardo J. Angara called on the government to allocate more funds for the skills training of frontline leaders and potential Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) employees as he expressed confidence that the Information Technology and BPO (IT-BPO) sector will continue to fuel the country’s economy.
Angara, Chair of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), said Filipinos possess a clear edge over all other countries providing offshore call center outsourcing owing to our proficiency in the English language as well as our flexibility in dealing with other cultures.
The veteran legislator noted that the IT-BPO industry is seen to generate at least 120,000 new jobs for the highly skilled in knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), like healthcare management and legal research. Moreover, it aims to directly employ 1.3 million Filipinos by 2016.
“In such a short time, the IT-BPO industry has become one of the biggest job creators in the country. In the past decade, the sector has grown exponentially in terms of work force and income generation, from a fledgling subsector of the service industry to a multibillion-dollar earner,” Angara said.
According to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the industry generated $11 billion in revenues and provided jobs to 638,000 employees by the end of 2011, surpassing its annual growth rate target of 20 percent.
Angara noted that close to P1 billion of the 2012 national budget, specifically from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Technical Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has been allocated for talent development in IT-BPO.
"The government should continue to invest in this booming industry by providing trainings and seminars for people seeking job opportunities in IT-BPO. This is a very promising age for Filipinos, especially highly educated, skilled and trained Filipinos,” he concluded.
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