"Medyo may pangamba na baka ma-apektuhan ang trabaho namin, kasi siyempre if in case mag-pull out ang mga call centers dito," said call center employee Rachelle Ann Fuentes.
("We're worried that our jobs may be affected in case call centers pull out from the Philippines.")
Around 80 to 85 percent of BPO firms in the Philippines are US-based companies.
Some foreign investors may already have doubts in investing in the Philippines, but this doesn't mean that the country's call center industry will crash, a financial analyst said.
"A lot of these call centers cater to the American market...For the meantime, I think we are probably going to see the BPO industry stay with us for some time," said Smith Chua, a chief investment officer and SVP at BPI.
The Philippines' BPO sector is a $25 billion a year industry with about 1.2 million workers.
Malacañang assured the industry that the President's "separation" statement does not mean severing ties with the US after the IT-BPO Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) "formally reached out to the Office of the President to secure an audience with him and directly discuss our industry’s asks from government."
The President's rhetoric has caused some "jitters" among the outsourcing industry's clients, IBPAP Executive Director Genny Inocencio-Marcial said earlier. -- Report from Jekki Pascual, ABS-CBN News
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
