Four BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) companies, which were placed under lockdown by the city government of Davao, have since accrued significant financial losses amounting to an estimated USD10.5 million by far.
Xavier Eric Manalastas, president of BPO Association of Davao Inc., (BPOADI), said in general the losses reached more than 10 million dollars.
“I can generalize, I think overall we are looking at 10.5 million dollars ang losses,” he said in an interview.
Manalastas is optimistic that the affected BPO companies, in the long term, can still recover from the losses.
“I think, in the long term yes. We have to take a hit, that is what we have to and we have to recover from that. BPO is not just call center, we have developers, we have tech support. It’s a combination, mostly inbound,” he said.
The said BPOs were placed under lockdown last month after recording high positive cases of Covid-19. Last June 16, 2021, the city announced the lifting of the lockdown of the BPO companies, but these companies will be monitored every two weeks.
“What we are doing right now is that we are working closely with the city government in improving the protocols. We have learned a lot, what has to be done prior to the lockdown and during the lockdown,” Manalastas said.
He added that the lockdown has affected around 10,000 BPO employees.
It can be recalled that ICT-Davao, Inc. President Samuel R. Matunog has called on the city government of Davao to reassess its lockdown approach in containing Covid-19 transmissions in offices as it has devastating effect on the outsourcing industry.
Matunog said shutting down the physical base of BPO companies significantly disrupt operations, which could easily prompt clients to change service providers.
