Quezon City eyes vibrant BPO industry

Despite the economic slump, the Quezon City government is still keen on producing potential manpower for the business processing outsourcing (BPO) industry.

This was evident with the launching of the second phase of a six-week free call center training program for underprivileged QC residents at the Central Colleges of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa as the city government mounts a continuing effort to provide a constant pool talents in the outsourcing sector.

“The city government would like to take advantage of the situation on a positive note,” said Manuel Sabalza, assistant city administrator for operations and chairman of the QC Information and Communication Technology/Business Process Outsourcing task force.

About 1,000 call center agents are needed right away by BPO locators in Quezon City, Sabalza said.

Todate, the city-initiated call center competency course has already benefited 140 qualified city residents since its launching in September this year.

Beneficiaries were awarded scholarships amounting to P15,000 to cover payment for the training program, which also provides participants with free meals and transportation allowance.

Of the 70 city residents trained in the first batch, at least half have already been provided BPO career-related jobs in Sitel, Cipher, Sykes, NCO, Teletech, E-PLDT Ventures and PNI.

In the next two years, the city government hopes to produce manpower for the outsourcing and off-shoring sectors.

From a pioneering cyberpark in Eastwood City, Quezon City now has 28 ICT parks registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the biggest of which so far, is the 38-hectare UP Science and Technology Park along Commonwealth Avenue.

Over the past few years, the Philippines has established itself as one of the top countries in the BPO industry, together with India and Canada. In 2007, the Philippines was named best outsourcing destination by the National Outsourcing Association of the Philippines.