Govt, BPAP to establish partnership for more outsourcing jobs

The Philippine government will tie up with a business organization to help the outsourcing industry reach its goals of 3.15 million jobs and $6 billion in tax revenues by 2016, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said Tuesday. In a statement, Abad said government’s upcoming partnership with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) will help develop human resources for the outsourcing industry. In particular, BPAP chairperson Alfredo Ayala proposed a partnership that will implement an improved and expanded “Training for Work" scholarship program, which is now being implemented by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. The revitalized version seeks to train 58,000 scholars in 2011 and 2012, of which 37,000 are guaranteed employment, said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). Aside from this, a faculty trainer development program can further expand the base of trained scholars, the DBM added. BPAP said both programs will require P350 million and P150 million in investments annually, respectively. Abad proposed that a joint government-BPAP program be put together for implementation in the remaining part of 2011 and the whole of 2012. “For the employment and the revenue potential of the industry, we see this as a reasonable investment that the government should consider. We agreed that both sides should craft and present proposals by the first week of September," he said. — PE/VS, GMA News