BAGUIO CITY, Philippines?Top semiconductor exporter Texas Instruments Philippines Inc. is the first American-led firm to let go of its employees, as the initial impact of the United States recession trickles down to the Philippines.

Ana Dione, Cordillera director of the Department of Labor and Employment, released a list of Texas Instruments employees, who submitted to voluntary retirement, on Wednesday.

About 400 employees are scheduled to leave the semiconductor firm, while 100 have chosen to transfer to the Texas operations at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga, according to DOLE.

Texas Instruments? main operations are based here. It was the first firm to set up shop when the former Baguio City Export Processing Zone (now the Baguio City Economic Zone) was created by the late President Ferdinand Marcos in 1980.

Call centers, like Sitel Philippines, continue to recruit, however, according to DOLE.

Texas Instruments had yet to issue an official statement on its workforce status, as of Thursday, although some of its employees told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that each of them was offered retirement benefits, with some receiving up to P1.5 million due to length of service.

DOLE inspectors who visited Texas Instruments said it was still unclear whether the retirement package would be part of a recession-triggered layoff because the firm's documents did not provide details as to how a projected work slowdown would impact on Texas Instruments? 2009 operations.

Lawyer Sixto Rodriguez, DOLE Cordillera deputy director, said Texas might have removed some employees due to a performance evaluation, based on a complaint he received from one employee.

Rodriguez said he was investigating this allegation.

Airline parts manufacturer Moog Philippines, another firm with ties to the US, has been expanding its facilities, and had yet to report any layoffs, Rodriguez said.

"For the moment, we rely on the list and the affirmation that the employees volunteered to leave. They were given a substantial retirement package, but we have opened our doors for intervention. No employee has shown up yet," said one of the government labor inspectors.

The inspector asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to disclose information about the inspection results.

DOLE is monitoring call centers and other business process outsourcing operations at the BCEZ, as well as facilities located in downtown Baguio.

"We are working on the theory that they would be hit by a slowdown if US President-elect Barack Obama follows through with his promise. He announced that he would start slowing down outsourcing operations to enable the creation of more US-based jobs, so we are watching," the DOLE inspector said.

As of September, the Cordillera's employment rate stood at 94.6 percent, slightly lower than the 95.1 percent employment rate.

But underemployment increased to 23.5 percent in September from the 18.5 percent posted in 2007, DOLE records showed.

"This means people still have jobs but their income is just not enough anymore," Dione said.