In Nueva Ecija, call center rises amid rice farms

CABANATUAN CITY—Inside what looks like a single story school building overlooking vast rice and vegetable fields, interaction between call center agents and United States-based callers is a daily activity.

The building houses a call center, the only facility operating in Nueva Ecija, located in Barangay Sto. Rosario in Aliaga town.

Vice Mayor Elizabeth Vargas has put up and runs the call center through her company, the Aliaga Vision Solution International Inc. It operates from the 5-hectare property of the Vargas family in the town.

“We started operating only this year. We are doing outbound sales for our clients,” Vargas says.

She says her call center has 90 seats and another 90 seats are ready for operation.

“We have a big advantage in our setup. We have no interference and we are in a big compound. It is an ideal place for our employees who stay in an idyllic place,” she says.

She says their employees and agents are residents of Aliaga and nearby towns.

Aliaga (pop: 61,270), a second class town (with an annual income of P45 million or more but less than P55 million), is 21 kilometers west of this city. Its town proper is a few kilometers from the national road.

Doing the unthinkable

“Our call center is doing well. We are happy to be doing what is unthinkable in a place like ours,” Vargas says.

There used to be a call center in a shopping mall in this city but it closed shop recently.

Work at the call center begins at 10 p.m. and ends at 10 a.m. the following day, says Shiela Pastor, quality analyst and English trainer.

The call center has a power generator and dedicated telephone lines to assure smooth operations.

Pastor says the call center has 40 agents and they are training recruits. It has a site manager, two operations manager, an outbound supervisor who is an American expatriate and an administrative officer.

“We like it here. It is very peaceful, quiet, and there’s lot of fresh air,” says Pastor. Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon