BPO firms welcome in Puerto Princesa, says mayor

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=794383
• Tuesday, August 18, 2015

(PNA), FFC/BNB/CARF/EBP

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Aug. 18 (PNA) -- Palawan Mayor Lucilo Bayron expressed delight over the influx of companies from the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the province.

Bayron made the statement Monday at a press conference held during the handover of the Learning English Application for Pinoy (LEAP), launching of the MIMAROPA STAR, and turnover of the DREAM LIDAR Project in Puerto Princesa which was spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The LEAP is the DOST’s computer-based training program which contains sample lessons and exercises for Filipino users who want to improve their English language.

Dr. Rowena Cristina Guevara, the project's proponent, said the program aims to enhance the English proficiency of BPO applicants in the province.

“One part of the LEAP is vocabulary and grammar – so, all the common mistakes of Filipinos, who speak English are incorporated in our self-guided training program,” Guevara said.

In fact, the city government's plans on the matter include a study regarding the construction of a BPO center in a sizable land located at the back of the Puerto Princesa City Coliseum in Barangay San Miguel.

“So, for now, we have an agreement with a firm, I forgot what its name; they are training call center employees here and then they bring them to Cebu, and other places. They want to return those they have trained here once a BPO center has been set up,” Bayron said.

Bayron described the coliseum site as a perfect BPO hub because this is where fiber optics traverse. This makes the area viable for the establishment of a possible outsourcing center that comprises the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business process to a third-party service provider.

With this, the local government eyes the relocation of several families who were temporarily sheltered in the area after a fire destroyed their houses in the province's bay area.

“The families that have sought shelter there temporarily have stayed over 10 years, we are in the process of relocating them because that area is what we are processing to make as a BPO center since the fiber optics is there,” he said.

Should the project push through, Bayron said the local government is also planning to build homes near the area for the benefit of the BPO hub's future employees.

“There is actually no quality time for both work and rest. They earn good, but they run out of time – traveling through traffic depletes them,” Mayor Bayron said.