Mindanao’s troubled image hounds BPO promise

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines — Mindanao’s business process outsourcing (BPO) operations will unlikely suffer much from layoffs, but from a growing perception that deteriorating peace and order situation in some parts of the island could be a snag in the industry’s prospects. "There will probably be downscaling, but it will not be a one-to-one [one job lost for every job generated] ratio," Emmanuel M. Lagare, chairman of Iligan City’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Council and vice-president for academic affairs for Mindanao State University-Iligan Insitute of Technology, said. Although big industrial firms and manufacturers are announcing retrenchment and even shutdown plans, Mindanao’s outsourcing sector still has much room for growth, Mr. Lagare said in a phone interview Tuesday. "We are still [struggling] to meet the market demand," he said. Iligan City hosted the first National Summit of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) councils on Nov. 25-26 last year. Enhancing competitiveness The summit focused discussions on how to further enhance the competitiveness of the sector. "Cities of Quezon, Davao and Cebu talked about their current ICT operations in their areas. We discussed different strategies to further attract players in our areas," Mr. Lagare said. Quezon City, he noted, is starting to lack manpower and is competing with Cebu to lure quality applicants from cities in Mindanao. "Applicants tend to choose the job packages from Cebu companies because of high cost of living in Quezon city," Mr. Lagare noted. ICT councils in Mindanao, especially from Davao, raised as a chief concern the negative perception on the security situation in a few parts of Western and Central Mindanao that is applied by outsiders to the entire island. "When people perceive Mindanao as the whole island to be unsafe, it badly affects all the growing cities," he said. Rodolfo L. Menes, president for Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc., said in an earlier interview that the local business sector remains optimistic on BPO investments entering Northern Mindanao this year. He noted that government officials and private sector leaders were already working on plans and activities to further promote this city as a promising area for investors even if the entire Mindanao suffers from a bad image in terms of peace and order. Ma. Eliza A. Pabillore, Misamis Oriental Trade and Industry director, noted that, bad publicity notwithstanding, several commercial spaces are being built in the city to accommodate BPO operations. Earlier, the Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines identified Davao — the only one in Mindanao — among the cities outside of Metro Manila readily preferred by BPO firms. But the industry group also noted other booming urban centers in Mindanao with promising labor pools and expanding infrastructure like General Santos, Zamboanga and Iligan. Mr. Lagare said travel advisories have to be specific in identifying problem areas. "People don’t know that Davao and Cagayan de Oro are hundreds of miles away from Sulu [a bastion of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group]," said Mr. Lagare. He noted that tourists who have never been here do not know that Mindanao is a large island. Mr. Lagare said various ICT councils will meet again within this quarter in Clark Freeport in Pampanga which will host this year’s national ICT council summit. — Geefe P. Alba, BusinessWorld