It will be a good Christmas for 350 former call center agents of Direct Access Co.
They received their checks yesterday from the new owner of the company.
The defunct Direct Access Co., was bought for P35 million by an Arab-American investor, who assumed the payment of salaries and benefits of over 600 displaced workers.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said the company called AmeeraTel Inc. is owned by Ahmed Salem.
Yesterday, 350 of the 638 workers went to the AmeeraTel Inc. office at the Cebu IT Park to receive their checks.
Aside from overdue salaries, the payment included allowances, incentives and night differentials , the mayor said.
Direct Access Corp. founder Roland del Rosario said the distribution of checks will hopefully be completed today.
ANGEL
“There’s an angel who came into the picture that would like to continue what was left of the contract. AmeeraTel believes in the skill and capacity of our call center agents and in Cebu City’s potential as a business destination,” Rama told reporters yesterday.
Direct Access Corp. filed a notice of temporary shutdown last July 31 for three to six months due to financial losses brought about by the high cost of operation.
In a phone interview, del Rosario said Salem bought out Direct Access Corp. and acquired its facilities, technology, equipment and some of its workers.
He said he was placed in charge of the new company’s IP (Internet Protocol) structure.
Del Rosario said AmeeraTel Inc. registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Oct. 25.
Rama said AmeeraTel Inc. assured him that they will rehire a sizable number of displaced workers.
But del Rosario said the displaced workers will have the same opportunity to be hired as the new applicants.
“It is possible [to hire the displaced workers]. But they still have to undergo the hiring process,” del Rosario told Cebu Daily News. /Jose Santino S. Bunachita, Correspondent