BPO sector to employ 1-M Pinoys by 2010

The business process outsourcing industry in the country is expected to employ at least a million Filipinos by 2010 as more BPO firms are being set up in the provinces, officials said yesterday.

Trade and Industry Undersecretary for regional operations Carissa Cruz-Evangelista said regions outside Metro Manila are becoming attractive for "offshore e-Services" as a result of improved infrastructure and abundance of IT (information technology) manpower.

"Notable BPOs are now in the regions which include InfoNXX, ePLDT Ventus, Client Logic and Teletech. These are multimillion investments that translate to jobs that will further spur the development of the countryside," Evangelista said in a press conference at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

The Department of Trade and Industry Regional Operations Group hosted the two-day Regional IT hubs forum as part of the government’s 7th e-Services Philippines (ESP) which concluded yesterday. 

Todate, there are 45 BPO firms located in Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Iloilo, Leyte, Sta. Rosa and Clark. Firms operating in the regions include call centers, medical transcription, software development and animation graphics, she said.

Evangelista added these BPOs do not include firms in Cebu and Dumaguete, which are also major areas of IT investments.

"With this development, we are now seeing these regions developing as regional IT hubs that will host more BPO firms," she said, adding this would also provide remarkable economic activity to the provinces.