MEETING. Bacolod City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chairman of Bacolod City Inter-Agency Task Force, and Councilor Dindo Ramos, chair of transportation and traffic, meet with the Land Transportation Office and the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group officials and representatives of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies on Wednesday (April 15, 2020). The BPO firms have been granted a special authority by Mayor Evelio Leonardia to operate a shuttle service for their employees during the enhanced community quarantine.
(Photo courtesy of Bacolod City PIO)
BACOLOD CITY – Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies with call center operations here have been granted a special authority by Mayor Evelio Leonardia to operate a shuttle service for their employees during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
These firms include Teletech, Teleperformance, Transcom, Panasiatic Solutions, Ubiquity, IQOR, Concentrix, Telesynergy, and FGC+.
“The special authority is issued without prejudice to the application of the BPO companies for a special permit with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and other pertinent rules and regulations,” Leonardia said in a statement on Friday.
On April 15, the City Council approved Resolution No. 381, authored by Councilor Dindo Ramos, chair of the committee on transportation and traffic, granting authority to the mayor to issue a special authority to the BPO firms for the said purpose.
The special authority is non-transferable and is valid only until April 30, 2020, or the effectivity of the ECQ.
Leonardia signed the special authority on Thursday after vans rented by BPO firms to transport their workers were rounded up by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) for lack of special permits.
On Wednesday, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chair of the Bacolod City Inter-Agency Task Force Against Covid-19, asked the LTO and the PNP-HPG to explain their operations.
During the meeting, it was clarified that for vehicles to be used as a means of transportation for BPO workers, the rental company needs to apply for a special permit first with the LTFRB through email provided that the vehicles already have a valid franchise.
In Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, the IT-BPO industry and allied services are among the major job generators.
They have a workforce of more than 32,000 employees, generating an annual income of almost PHP4 billion. (PNA)
