PEZA accreditation of ESL firms mulled

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is considering institutions offering ESL (English as Second Language) services to be included in the roster of companies availing of exclusive fiscal incentives.

This was the pronouncement made by PEZA director general Charito Plaza, after some players in the outsourcing sector in Cebu asked if there is a possibility for the agency to accredit ESL firms.

There are several companies that are operating offshore facilities for ESL service to different non-English speaking nationalities like Japanese, Koreans, Chinese and some Europeans, and are not getting income tax holidays.

Plaza urged ESL companies in Cebu to formally write her a letter for this purpose so it can be acted accordingly the soonest possible time.

"Put all your concerns in a letter [including the ESL firms' appeal] so that we can come up with right policies," Plaza suggested.

Just recently, Department of Tourism (DOT) assistant secretary Benito Bengzon encouraged Cebu to extract further its potential on becoming the premier ESL hub in Asia.

Bengzon said aside from the traditional ESL markets of the country like Korean and Japanese, there is a wider range of non-English speaking nationalities such as Chinese, Taiwanese, people from Eastern Europe who are yet to discover Philippines' exceptional edge in teaching English.

ESL is one of the identified niches for the DOT in order to expand the country's attraction and lure more tourists, not just for sight-seeing, brief vacation travels, but for educational purposes such as learning the universal language.

As Cebu has been in the forefront of this tourism related service, Bengzon hinted that the province can capitalize on this more strongly thereby gaining more tourists to boost the economy all the more. (FREEMAN)