P-Noy urged to lobby against US bill pushed by Obama

Congress called on the Aquino administration to create a lobby group that will block passage of a bill that could spell the end of the country’s booming Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said the administration should closely monitor US House Bill 3596 entitled “Call Center and Consumers Protection Bill,” which will encourage in-sourcing by American firms and penalize those dealing with overseas business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.

Among those seen to be affected by the US bill is Cebu, which had witnessed the expansion of BPO companies in recent years.

The Cebu City government set up a call center program for some of the city’s schools to fill up the demand for qualified call center employees.

The Cebu Park District alone employs nearly 50,000 workers from the information technology (IT) and BPO locators.

Among the beneficiaries of the BPO growth was the Cebu real estate industry which experienced a construction boom as a result of rising demand for BPO offices.

At least six buildings are under construction in the Cebu Business Park and eight buildings in the Cebu IT Park in barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

“BPO buildings and spaces this year have experienced occupancy and rental rates on the rise. Hotel occupancy rates have even inched upward in spite of more budget, business, chain, and resort hotels that came in,” Jose Soberano, President of Cebu Landmasters Inc., earlier said.

But US House Bill 3596 may soon change all that.

Gonzales said he was worried the bill would curtail the growth of the BPO industry in the country, which has been fueled mostly by American firms.

US President Barack Obama earlier called on American businessmen to keep US jobs at home instead of outsourcing them overseas.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone shared Gonzales’ concern, pointing out that BPOs contribute close to $9 billion a year from roughly 800,000 call center agents.

This is close to half of the $19 billion in annual remittances from five to 10 million overseas Filipino workers.

US HB 3596 imposes a $10,000 daily fine on US call center firms that do not identify their agents’ location.

Among the provisions set in the proposed US bill are :

* It will penalize US companies for $10,000 a day if they fail to report to the US Department of Labor their relocation to an offshore location witin 60 days.

* It will require them to inform the US Department of Labor 120 days in advance their offshore plans.

* It will require call center operators who answer calls to identify their location and caller will have a choice of choosing a US-based operator.

* It will ban US Call Centers operating outside the US from seeking federal grants and loans for five years.

“I think that being an election year, Obama has no choice but to advocate populist sentiments like insourcing. We must be ready for any eventuality because we don’t want to be surprised, especially on a very crucial economic contributor like BPOs,” said Gonzales.

Evardone said the Aquino administration must organize and send a lobby group to the US Congress to try and block passage of this bill.

“It’s about time that we take seriously this threat against our BPOs now that Obama has laid down a firm policy against outsourcing.

Government agencies should not ignore this. We might wake up one day and find that the jobs in BPOs are already gone if we don’t act timely and decisively,” said Evardone.

“P-Noy might want to raise this issue with Obama during his state visit to the US this year.”

Evardone said the Philippines could link up with countries like India, Mexico and Ireland, where BPOs have been thriving. Inquirer with a story from Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap