Philippine BPO firms take Obama win in stride

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—When Barack Obama announced during his reelection campaign that he would push for legislation to penalize American companies outsourcing work abroad, Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) firms held their breath.

Now that Obama has won a second term in office, the country’s BPO firms have decided to keep things cool by saying that they will help revitalize the world’s largest economy by helping keep US companies afloat.

“Outsourcing business services to the Philippines helps make American companies more competitive and profitable. Profitable companies hire more workers, both here and in the United States,” said Benedict Hernandez, president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (Bpap).

Due to the local workforce’s high proficiency in the English language and strong cultural affinity with the United States, most clients of Philippine BPO firms are American companies.

“While there has been speculation that anti-outsourcing legislation may be revisited, the Philippine IT-BPO industry will continue to support the US economy and American businesses to help ensure they are among the most competitive in the world while freeing up resources to create more jobs in the US,” he said.

The “Bring Jobs Home Act” failed in the US Senate last July. It was intended to eliminate tax breaks for US companies outsourcing services and manufacturing jobs to other countries and provide a 20-percent tax deduction on costs associated with closing outsourced operations and transferring jobs to the United States.