‘Cyber sex is not BPO’

MANILA, Philippines—The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology are condemning cyber sex dens that call themselves business process outsourcing (BPO) service providers as it casts the country’s sunshine industry in a bad light.

“Cyber sex is not BPO. It’s pure pornography. Cyber sex dens are not at all related to BPO and offshoring. We’re reacting strongly against (calling cyber sex dens as BPO players). Porn is porn whether in print, television, or the web. It’s being done anywhere. It’s not outsourcing,’’ BPAP chief executive Oscar Sanez said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

He was reacting to the perception of some that cyber sex dens, like the one raided in Olongapo City recently, are part of the BPO community.

BPO service providers, as the term connotes, offered legitimate business services to companies that wanted to have third parties do their noncore functions, he explained.

He said BPO firms chose to set up shop in overseas locations such as the Philippines “to capitalize on the talent, scale, and costs of the host country.’’
“This is why, as an industry, we want to veer away from being tagged as part of any illegal sex activity. The only commonality we have with (cyber sex dens) is their use of the Internet,’’ he said.

“Our members are taking offense for companies like these that are declaring themselves BPO service providers. These cyber sex dens operate underground and don’t even have permanent addresses.” Abigail L. Ho, Philippine Daily Inquirer