Noy calls anti-BPO bill in US ‘a bluff’

Facing an imminent displacement of some one million Filipinos employed by the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and its allied industries, President Aquino appears unfazed and even called a bill pending in the United States to stop outsourcing of American jobs abroad a bluff.

In fact, Aquino sees no reason for the Philippines government to issue a statement of protest or lobby against an anti-outsourcing proposal in the US that may affect not just the one million Filipinos who are either directly or indirectly working for the BPO sector.

“I am made to understand that this was an issue that was brought up during the last elections in America . And from that time, which is four years ago, up to now, the situation hasn’t changed. Perhaps, there isn’t that much of a need yet,” the President said in response to a question about the US bill.

The President said he is considering the election season in the US and it is not surprising that American politicians would resurrect such proposals to gain public support.

“We have to take into account that this is an election year for them, perhaps it’s an election-related statement. At the end of the day, like any other country, America would want to make their companies more effective, competitive …and if outsourcing is one of the keys toward that, then I would presume it will continue. Well, hopefully it will not change because it is one of our sunrise industries,” he said.

Under US House Bill 3596 otherwise known as the Call Center and Consumers Protection bill, call center operators will be required to identify their location, giving US callers the option of choosing a US-based operator.

The bill also seeks to punish companies that will employ call center agents located in other countries by making them ineligible for grants and guaranteed loans from the federal government. US call centers that would fail to report its relocation to an offshore location to the Labor Department within 60 days will be penalized.

The Philippine outsourcing industry is currently holding 15 percnt of the global market share. The country is the most preferred off-shoring destination in Southeast Asia, directly employing more than a million workers, most of whom, are in the call center market. The Philippine outsourcing industry is made up of independent companies and contractors operating on shared services offices. Many multinational companies have outsourced their contact center operations to the Philippines owing to the country’s high English literacy.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) estimates that the Philippine outsourcing industry employs some one million Filipinos — 62 percent of which working as call center agents, back-office – 18.5 percent and Knowledge Process Outsourcing – 9.5 percet. Roughly 5.4 percent of the outsourced IT workers are software engineers, 3.2 percentare transcriptionists, and 2.2 percent are animators. As more companies outsource their operations to the Philippines, the figures are expected to increase in few years’ time.

The Philippine BPO sector is growing at an annual rate of 46 percent since 2006. The RP-based BPO industry is the 3rd largest BPO provider in the world.

The country’s strategic location and highly skilled workforce are attracting more outsourcing providers. The Philippine outsourcing market is improving its competitive edge as it becomes more diversified. The country’s BPO providers are increasingly catching up with other outsourcing destinations.

However, passage of the bill pending at the US congress is expected to halt in the growth of high-value jobs like software development and animation — as well as its growth in the overall global market share. –Fernan J. Angeles, Daily Tribune