BPO DAY IN CEBU CITY. Cebu City honored the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) by declaring a “BPO Day” every March 28 of each year.
South District City Councilor Francis Esparis authored the ordinance for the industry’s contribution to the city’s economy. "The BPO industry has infused billions of pesos into the economy of Cebu City and has employed thousands of Cebuanos and even non-Cebuanos ... through the years since its establishment in Cebu, the industry has grown from the strength to strength and has, in fact, prevailed against the economic ill-effects of COVID-19 because the men and women of the industry shouldered on," Esparis said.
XP Plus Co-Founder/CEO, IT BPM Consultant to the Mayor of Cebu City and Cebu IT BPM Organization (CIB.O) Vice President Darwin John “DJ” Moises suggested celebrating the day on March 28 instead of April 1 proposed by the Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Styling. The day marked the start of the ECQ which underscored even more the heroic efforts of the employees in the industry.
"As we noticed, just when the city was hiding at that time because of the impact of the virus, all the IT-BPM buildings were well-lit. So, its people continue to work," DJ revealed.
Cebu is a preferred IT-BPM location outside Metro Manila because of its active ecosystem of support infrastructure including energy, telecommunication, academe, real estate, hospitality and tourism. Every direct employment translates to 2.5 indirect employment in support industries such as banking, logistics, retail, transportation, real estate and more.
DJ also emphasized that the industry has significantly evolved through the years. From Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) or tasks primarily outsourced for cost and efficiency gains, the work that’s transitioned to locations such as Cebu is now focused on end-to-end processes. It can be optimizing workflows, data analytics, project management, process automation and other technology products and services that can be done by technology professionals.
Based on the 2028 roadmap released by the IT and Business Process Management Association of the Philippines, the industry targets to end 2028 with 2.5 million full-time workers and US$59 billion in revenues. 600,000 of these new jobs will be generated in the countryside.