Statement poorly expressed, speaker offers his apologies

In my commencement address at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod, I made mention of the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry to highlight its role in the growth of the city and province and to contrast this to the Bacolod I first encountered as a young teacher over 30 years ago.

My statements on the nature of the industry were poorly phrased and as a result not a few individuals in the industry felt slighted and even insulted. I apologize for the misimpression caused.

Bacolod City is one of 10 “next-wave” cities in the BPO industry. As a service industry, its success is built on individuals. the majority of whom are call center agents who bring on board two distinct skill sets (if not more):  English communication skills and technical skills in a wide range of disciplines, including accounting, medical science, engineering, and so on.  The entire industry is in fact about knowledge-processing, and I acknowledge, as I should, how important a driver of growth this has been and should continue to be for Bacolod City and the Philippines as a whole.

As rightly pointed out to me by call center agents themselves, the work is tough, the ability to “think on one’s feet” and “out-of-the-box” is paramount, and the need to stay calm in the face of demanding clients is difficult to master, but this they do with great ability.

I stand corrected on this.  My apologies for creating misimpressions about the industry in that commencement address.  That was not intended and it was unfortunate.

—JUAN MIGUEL LUZ

dean, Center for Development Management

Asian Institute of Management