Dalaguete aims to attract BPO investments

CEBU, Philippines —  The municipality of Dalaguete in the southern part of Cebu province is pushing for the development of Business Process Outsourcing (BSP) industry in an effort to boost revenue and employment opportunities.

Known as the “vegetable basket” in the province, Dalaguete is poised to add another revenue stream for the town with the introduction of Dalaguete Business Processing Outsourcing Program (DBPOP), attracting outsourcing investments to the municipality, as well as equip its constituents to land employment in the BPO industry.

Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Cesante said the idea came about in an effort to sustain economic stability by addressing unemployment and that is to create enough jobs for its growing labor force through the creation of its own BPO industry in his town.

“It was born during the pandemic. There were Dalaguetnons coming over from the city. During these situations, there must be an opportunity for us. Usa sa atong nakita is a new industry or a new line of enterprise where the municipal government could open and work with the private sector to come in and making sure that the youth would also be able to get a sustainable job,” Mayor Cesante said.

 The DBPOP is a BPO training facility where the employable residents will be able to get proper training for BPO employment.

 “With this, they (Dalaguetnons) can live here and work here. The future is here,” the mayor added.

 The local government unit (LGU) of Dalaguete conducted an online dialogue on Facebook to get the opinion of Dalaguetons on this project. On its first dialogue, more than 300 Dalaguetnons responded positively, which pushed the LGU to pursue the DBPOP.

According to the Mayor, a lot of Dalaguetnons are pursuing their career in the BPO industry in Cebu City. While it is good, the Mayor said one of the reasons why he started to push the development of BPO in his town is to keep the Dalaguetnons in the town and avoid the high cost of living working in the city, including rent, food and transportation expenses.

In addition to the abundant production of vegetables in Mantalongon, a mountain barangay in Dalaquete dubbed as the “Vegetable Basket” of Cebu, opening a BPO industry could also be a gateway to more businesses and opportunities for its people. This, according to Mayor Cesante, are important steps in realizing its plans of putting up a Dalaguete information and Technology Park (D’IT Park), a business park envisioned to attract locators in the information technology industry.

“This will not only resolve unemployment but also provide a much better opportunity to everyone,” the Mayor said.

Through the DBPOP, the municipal government will provide training services to enhance the applicants effective communication skills and be more efficient in keeping the organization competitive.

To date, the program has already produced 40 fully-trained agents equipped to handle specific processes.