ILOILO City – The business process outsourcing industry of Dumaguete City now employs about 6,000 workers, and 80 percent of them from the three major BPO companies in the city, Javier Fortunato Jr., provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry of Negros Oriental, said yesterday.

Fortunato, who was at the 1st Visayas ICT Organizational Conference at the Sarabia Manor Hotel in Iloilo, said Dumaguete is growing in terms of its investors and the number of workers employed in ICT-BPO companies.

He recalled that five years ago, young professionals leave the city and look for jobs in Cebu and Manila. But with the entry of SPI Global, TeleTech and Qualfon where 80 percent of the BPO workforce are employed, young professionals stay and remain in Dumaguete, Fortunato said.

Randy Bandiola, immediate past president of ICT-Dumaguete, gave a rating of eight for the ICT industry of the city, though promotion is still needed to meet the criteria of the next wave cities program of the ICT Industry Development Group.

Bandiola, director for marketing and promotions of ICT-Dumaguete, said they aim to increase employment by 20 percent on the national level and the city is following this path.

They also partnered with the Technical Education Skills Development Authority for its training for work scholarship program NC II finishing course for call center agents, and collaborated with schools and universities in Dumaguete in strengthening language and communication skills training, he said.

Dumaguete has six sites accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. They are the Federated IT Park in Bacong, Dumaguete Business Park in Brgy. Calindagan, Lee Plaza IT Park in Brgy. Bagacay, Federated IT Park 2 in Sibulan, Qualfon in Brgy. 7, and LinkSy IT Park in Brgy. Bantayan, he said.*LTG

back to top