Leyte gov confirms APAC request for 2,500 sq m office spaces for 600 call center agents

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
August 15, 2010

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Leyte Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla confirmed that a memorandum of agreement has been signed by the Provincial Government of Leyte and APAC for the Provincial Government to provide another 2,500 square meter office space for its expansion plans.

The provincial government is set to provide more space for APAC’s expansion to ensure that the company would continue to generate jobs for residents of Leyte and the region as a whole, Governor Petilla told the local media during the Harampang Ha PIA media forum at Gerry’s Grill on August 10, 2010.

With the 2,500 square meters additional office space APAC is asking, it could house at least 600 more call center agents, Gov. Petilla revealed. Already, with the present operations, APAC employs at least a thousand employees since it started.

The governor said that the province immediately has to go straight to the drawing board for the ICT Park’s growth to ensure that the job market as a result of APAC’s expansion would benefit jobseekers from Leyte and Eastern Visayas provinces.

However, the Governor said that he would rather that the private sector follow what the provincial government has started.

“We showed them how to do it, the private sector must then take it from there,” Governor Petilla said.

APAC presently occupies the former Leyte Academic Center (LAC) Gymnasium that sits on a 3,000-square meter site and was turned into a high-end call center facility when APAC located and finally opened early this year.

APAC officials have earlier revealed that their Leyte site would only be the start of the company’s five-year expansion in the country where 80% of its growth will be in the provinces.

This is still part of the province of Leyte’s vision to become an alternative hub for provincial expansion of BPO and ICT players because of its existing fiber optic connections, a good education system with 5,000 to 8,000 graduates every year, and incentives from the local government.

The BPO and ICT Industry is known as the “Sunrise Industry” of the country due to the fact that this industry has brought in millions of dollars in investment from foreign companies, while creating several thousand jobs in the process.

The governor likewise said that with ICT coming in, expansion of both upstream and downstream industries like telecommunications, food, real estate, construction, electronics, transportation, entertainment and lifestyle businesses, is seen.