BPO to hire 500,000 workers in Mindanao, government says

The government sees a robust Philippine economy despite the global financial crisis, as housing, food, tourism and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries “remain to be resilient,” a Palace official said Tuesday.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd, quoting Socioeconomic planning Secretary Ralph Recto, said the BPO industry will hire 500,000 jobs in Mindanao to mitigate rampant layoffs.

Recto made his presentation during the Cabinet meeting in Fort Bonifacio Tuesday.

Bello noted the April 5 report of Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, which showed the tapering off of job losses as 14,000 displaced employees affected by the global layoffs were hired back.

Other signs of economic resilience include the expansion plans of giant food manufacturers and the continued “double-digit growth” of shopping malls, he said.

“Tourism has not been seriously affected. Tourist traffic in the first quarter of 2009 went up based on the data from airlines and other transport players,” Bello said.

Meanwhile, he said President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday ins­tructed the Department of Public Works and Highways to check whether the construction of Luzon Avenue and C5 road is being implemented 24/7.

“The completion of the project will improve the traffic flow in Metro Manila and solve the problem of unemployment,” Bello added.

Sixty percent of the announced infrastructure projects this year will be offered for bidding during the first semester as farm-to-market roads and irrigation projects must reach 60 percent completion according to annual targets, he said.
–Danielle Clara P. Dandan With Angelo S. Samonte, Manila Times