Little known BPO group ‘just connected the dots…’

“Let there be light!”

The BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) posted that statement on its website after President Aquino addressed the nation on television and radio on Wednesday night, defending the pork barrel and the little-known but equally controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and the President’s Social Fund.

Mr. Aquino lashed out at the opposition, saying they were stirring up controversy to divert attention from the corruption scandal that had hit them following discovery of the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

“The issue here is theft. I did not steal. Those who have been accused of stealing are those who are sowing confusion,” Mr. Aquino said.

But BIEN believed the President missed the point of public anger over misuse of the pork barrel and other governmental discretionary funds.

The opposition and other critics had never accused Mr. Aquino of stealing public funds.

Critics have questioned the constitutionality of the pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the DAP in the Supreme Court, which is clear to BIEN but it seems not to Malacañang where officials interpret the action as an attempt to roll back the gains of the administration’s good government campaign.

Angry workers

“We are not stupid! We are angry, we are disgusted, and we will not allow this to pass,” BIEN said in response to Mr. Aquino’s defense of the discretionary funds.

BIEN, which has 200 members from business process outsourcing companies in Manila (not an “umbrella group” of workers from more than 200 companies nationwide as earlier reported), joined the protest against the pork barrel after understanding that the taxes paid by BPO workers goes to the government coffers, from where appropriations for the PDAF come, only to be allegedly pocketed by senators and congressmen in connivance with a businesswoman who has extensive connections in the government.

“We just connected the dots,” said Ian Porquia, president of BIEN.

Porquia said that after a study, his group determined that P3,000 to P4,000 is deducted from BPO workers’ monthly salaries as tax—and the money goes to the PDAF, from which businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles allegedly siphoned off P10 billion into her bank accounts through fake nongovernment organizations and paid hundreds of millions of pesos to senators and congressmen in kickbacks over the past 10 years.

“The money that we pay as taxes is being compromised and the President has the gall to tell us that it is not being pocketed (by officials and lawmakers),” BIEN said in response to Mr. Aquino’s statements on Wednesday night.

Rights protection

Porquia said BIEN was established to ensure that “the best of best practices” are observed in the BPO industry and to protect the interests of call center workers.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has introduced legislation that would protect the rights of BPO workers. Porquia said BIEN helped Santiago in the preparation of the bill.

The group was campaigning online for support for the bill from the industry when the pork barrel scandal erupted in July.

BIEN suspended the campaign and joined the protests against the PDAF, including the massive but leaderless protest at Luneta in Manila on Aug. 26.

BIEN is working for a tax holiday for BPO workers and for the right to organize trade unions.

There are no unions in the industry at present, but volunteer lawyers help workers in their disputes with their employers.

Santiago’s bill would give BPO workers the right to join trade unions.