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Cebu business process outsourcing (BPO) stakeholders welcomed the dismissal of a bill in the US Senate, describing it as “anti-outsourcing.”

”The decision is a relief to the industry, given the fact that it was a high-ranking official of the US who proposed it. At least we now have a closure to any proposition to stop outsourcing,” Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari Yu said.

The President Barack Obama-backed anti-outsourcing bill failed to muster the 60 votes required for US Senate approval.

Had it been passed, the bill would have eliminated tax breaks for companies outsourcing services and manufacturing jobs to other countries and provided a 20 percent tax deduction on costs associated with closing outsourced operations and transferring jobs to the US.

At least one senator, Orrin Hatch of Utah, said there is no tax break for outsourcing, referring to the “Bring Jobs Home Act.”

”It’s devoid of serious content because it is of political rather than economic priorities,” he said.

”The rejection is not surprising,” Yu said.

He reiterated that for global companies to remain globally competitive, they have to reduce cost.

“A surefire way to reduce cost is outsourcing. It is economic survival,” he said.

Yu said the US did not only need job generation to facilitate economic recovery. It also needed companies to remain competitive.

Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedfit) executive director Jun Sa-a supported Yu’s statement, saying that “outsourcing remains to be the logical decision in a global economy.”

”The rejection is expected because the bottomline is still competitiveness and profitability of their business,” Saa said.

”You can’t stop outsourcing because it makes good business sense,” said Cebu Business Club president Dondi Joseph.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Prudencio Gesta said the US senate’s rejection is “good and welcome news for Cebu since this will sustain the momentum of the industry here.”

”This is a big win for the Philippines,” Gesta said.

President Benigno S. Aquino III, during his recent State of the Nation Address (Sona), reported that the BPO sector alone generated 683,000 jobs and contributed US$ 11 billion in revenues last year.

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