THE Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) recently said Republic Act 10533, also known as the K to 12 law, is going to boost the country’s business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry as more capable and competent working Filipinos will be tapped by the industry.
“Being the No. 2 generator of employment in the country, it is important for us to have qualified people to achieve sustainable growth,” Ibpap Executive Director Penny Bongato said in a recent media briefing. “There are many investors interested to enter the Philippines.”
Bongato said the implementation of K to 12 will enable Filipinos to acquire more skills even if they haven’t entered college. Under the K to 12 Program, the additional two years in high school will be equivalent to two years of college in the old curriculum.
“The 12-year basic education system is the international standard for mutual recognition of qualifications of students and professionals.
The Philippines will be able to fully take advantage of the international community’s move toward mutual recognition of qualifications with the immediate implementation of K to 12,” the Ibpap said in a statement.
Bongato said the Ibpap has partnered with some educational institutions in the country to develop a curriculum for students who want to pursue a career in the BPO industry.
“We need to be involved because industry needs the people for the jobs that will be available,” she said.
The BPO sector directly employs 1.3 million Filipinos. The boom in the BPO industry has also led to the growth of the construction industry and the retail sector. The BPO sector had started from simple outsourcing such as data-entry and software-writing services in the pre-Internet years and has grown exponentially during the past decade.
At present, it has grown beyond call-center services (including customer-relationship management and technical support. A wide variety of other business processes is fulfilled over the Internet or leased lines by providers in the Philippines.
These include knowledge-process outsourcing, such as finance and accounting, creative services, billing and collections, document digitization and search engines, engineering design, financial and legal research, human resource management, medical transcription and coding, and publishing.
Meanwhile, business organizations, such as the Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Philippines, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce, Employers Confederation of the Philippines and Ibpap have given their support to K to 12.