LEGAZPI CITY--When Alexander Osias, 25, graduated here with a degree in computer engineering, one of his first considerations was to move to Metro Manila to look for work.
The knee-jerk reaction for most fresh graduates in the province is to migrate to urban centers for higher-paying jobs or more specialized employment.
But not wanting to leave his wife and his child, Osias opted instead to settle in Legazpi City, eventually landing a job as a webpage developer and content writer for United States-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firms tied with the Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation Inc. (SLTCFI) here.
Unfortunately, these firms centralized operations in Metro Manila. But all hope was not lost for Osias.
Recently, SLTCFI had also been facilitating manpower for the Embarcadero Information Technology Park currently being constructed at the city port.
SLTCFI president Rosemarie Rey said the school will be one of the locators in Albay's very own IT park, possibly along with around three other BPO firms still under negotiation.
Rey said SLTCFI will be posting three accounts in Embarcadero: One for outsourced web development, another a financial account for an Australian company, and another a call center for a foreign telecoms firm servicing US and Australian clients.
Osias and 30 others have already finished training for an online marketing account currently being hosted by SLTCFI. Another class has been groomed for call center operations.
Excited with the Embarcadero prospect, Osias said: "Legazpi City is starting to come alive. We no longer need to try our luck in Metro Manila to earn enough. Now, what we can earn in the province is enough for our family's daily needs, without having to leave them behind."
Embarcadero
Accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority as an economic tourism zone with IT component, the P1.8-million bay front commercial and IT complex being developed by the Sunwest Group of Companies here is expected to span more than 2.5 hectares, with around nine buildings to be utilized for shopping and leisure activities.
But due to the increasing interest being shown by BPO firms, what was once an "IT-component" in the original plan has been expanded into its own park, with about 15,477 square meters of the shoreline reclaimed for three more buildings with four to seven floors, said Annie Sumanga, president of Sunwest subsidiary Misibis Land Inc.
Sunwest IT manager Albert Dionela expects the IT park will draw in data centers and BPO firms offering services ranging from the standard call centers, to web content writing and web development, to legal and medical transcription, to backroom services such as accounting.
When the park is fully operational, hopefully by summer next year, the call center facilities alone can house 8,000 seats or 24,000 agents on three shifts.
"This would translate to approximately P240 million to P480 million in monthly salaries at P10,000 to P20,000 monthly wage for call center employees," Mayor Noel E. Rosal said.
Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano, during the blessing ceremonies on Aug. 8, estimated that 90-percent of Embarcadero employees will be the city locals themselves.
Classrooms
Currently, around five buildings are being built, one of which will house the initial 100-seat call center and training classrooms committed to by SLTCFI.
Aside from the accounts they will host in Embarcadero, SLTCFI is also already hosting accounts dealing with online marketing, copywriting and web programming, in their school. Rey urged interested applicants to train for them.
Perhaps unbeknown to most locals, the Department of Trade and Industry has pegged Legazpi City's One-Town-One-Product (Otop) as Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-enabled services.
Legazpi will soon fully embody that tag, with the local government and institutions like SLTCFI already hard at work equipping the available manpower with specialized, high-end training.
"What we want is when the locators come, we will already have a trained pool of manpower. And we're not limiting ourselves to call centers. We're also familiar with backroom operations and other technical needs of the e-commerce industry," Rey said.
She cited their scholarship trainings ranging from online programming, to strategies for optimizing online marketing, to computer-aided design.
"Currently, we have trained around a thousand, some of which are employed, some undergoing additional training for other specializations. Our ongoing pool for training is around 200," Rey said.
It is not only the manpower that is already groomed for interested BPO firms. Dionela boasted of fast and stable telecoms connection at the Embarcadero, owing to the fiber-optic technology in place, and direct connections to five giant carriers, namely, PLDT, Globe, Bayantel, PT&T and Digitel.
As for electricity, Dionela expects "zero downtime." Embarcadero will be connected directly to Transco, with two back-up generators and two megawatts of reserve power, and a direct connection to the hybrid renewable energy power plant in Cagraray Island when it is finished.
With these opportunities being unlocked in Albay, and with more reasons for the talent pool to stay put, the province may now hope for less "brain drain" and faster progress.
For instance, hearing of the Embarcadero IT Park has only given Sandra Balderama, 19, a firmer resolve to establish her future career in Legazpi City.
A graduating Computer Science major at SLTCFI, Balderama is an accomplished student, having qualified for a slew of training programs ranging from call center competency to online marketing to web development.
She has even been offered a teaching position upon graduation.
Instead of uncertainty, she now expresses excitement for the future ahead of her: "There are already a lot of opportunities offered to me, as a student here. What more when I have graduated?" she said.
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