CLARK FREEPORT – Clark Development Corp. president and chief executive officer Benigno Ricafort clarified yesterday that no massive layoffs are expected in this freeport that employs 57,000 workers amid a report that 40,000 of them are headed towards unemployment.
“I never made that unemployment projection. Despite the global crisis, our locators here have been so gracious and generous in coping with the crisis by merely rotating their workers instead of laying them off,” Ricafort told Punto after the report aired the other day on national television triggered near-panic among workers here.
This, even as Ricafort said the CDC is now considering a moratorium on “lease rate escalation” and other measures to help investors here cope with the crisis. “We will do everything to cut their cost of operations here at Clark,” he said.
Ricafort said cited records indicating that only about 1,200 workers here were displaced since November last year.
“That’s only about three percent of some 57,000 people employed here at Clark,” he noted. He also said that only two companies involved in automotives and aviation have shut down since last year, one employing some 30 workers and the other, 50.
“The two closed firms were more of sales offices that occupied only small spaces here. They shut down amid failed expectations that their markets in Asia would grow but this did not happen,” Ricafort added.
He said he has no projections on how worldwide economic problems would affect employment here, contrary to the television report that 40,000 more workers here are expected to be laid off.
He noted that, on the contrary, he expected more business processing outsource (BPO) investments to establish here this year.
“There is some downsizing being done by BPO’s in other countries and it seems they see more economical reason to move to the Philippines, including Clark,” he said, adding that some BPO’s have even sought the help of the CDC to put up sign boards to announce their need for personnel.
Ricafort also said that investors affected by the global crisis here have opted to resort to rotating personnel instead of firing them. “The work hours of the workers are reduced, and the workers have proven to be understanding of the situation,” he noted.
He said that at the same time, the CDC is now studying measures to enable investors here to operate at less cost.
“We are now studying the possibility of a moratorium on lease rate escalation. Such rates are supposed to increase from three to five percent every five or so years, “he said.
Ricafort also said the CDC plans to help retailers and other business establishments “which have not been making money” arising from the effects of the global crisis.
Only last Jan. 14, the CDC came out with a statement saying that an even a better employment is expected here this year despite worldwide economic woes.
“Over 5,000 new jobs were created at Clark in 2008 to boost employment to an all time high of 57,118 jobs since the CDC was created in 1993,” the CDC’s public relations department said.
The employment figure is expected to go higher as it was based on reports of only 347 out of 640 registered investors at this freeport, the CDC said.
“The employment increase is also expected this year amid the expected soft opening of US-based semi-conductor firm Texas instrument and the expansion programs of the five Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms operating inside the zone,” the CDC said.
CDC’s marketing department also reported that that 55 investment projects were signed last year, bringing to 781 the total number of investments this freeport.
Cyber City Teleservices Senior Executive Vice President George Sorio said that the effects of the global of financial crisis will not be “drastic in the Philippines.”
“Actually, there is still a scarcity of manpower in the BPO industry here in the Philippines which is why call center agents whose companies might close shop would only be absorbed by other BPOs,” Sorio said during the Regional Cluster Intrapreneurship Congress held here recently.
He added that “what the call center industry in the country needs right now is manpower.”
The CDC public relations department said the number of workers in Clark today is now more than three times the employment provided to Filipinos by Americans when this freeport was still a US air force base. On the average, the US base maintained a Filipino workforce of only 21,000.
The CDC noted that the biggest employers here are the investors in industrial electronics, garments, crafts, furniture and other manufacturing sectors with 28,452 workers or 51.50 percent of total Clark employment.
They are followed by information technology and telecommunications investors with 8,759 workers comprising 15.47 percent, and tourism and tourism-related firms with 6,835 workers comprising 12 percent.
“I never made that unemployment projection. Despite the global crisis, our locators here have been so gracious and generous in coping with the crisis by merely rotating their workers instead of laying them off,” Ricafort told Punto after the report aired the other day on national television triggered near-panic among workers here.
This, even as Ricafort said the CDC is now considering a moratorium on “lease rate escalation” and other measures to help investors here cope with the crisis. “We will do everything to cut their cost of operations here at Clark,” he said.
Ricafort said cited records indicating that only about 1,200 workers here were displaced since November last year.
“That’s only about three percent of some 57,000 people employed here at Clark,” he noted. He also said that only two companies involved in automotives and aviation have shut down since last year, one employing some 30 workers and the other, 50.
“The two closed firms were more of sales offices that occupied only small spaces here. They shut down amid failed expectations that their markets in Asia would grow but this did not happen,” Ricafort added.
He said he has no projections on how worldwide economic problems would affect employment here, contrary to the television report that 40,000 more workers here are expected to be laid off.
He noted that, on the contrary, he expected more business processing outsource (BPO) investments to establish here this year.
“There is some downsizing being done by BPO’s in other countries and it seems they see more economical reason to move to the Philippines, including Clark,” he said, adding that some BPO’s have even sought the help of the CDC to put up sign boards to announce their need for personnel.
Ricafort also said that investors affected by the global crisis here have opted to resort to rotating personnel instead of firing them. “The work hours of the workers are reduced, and the workers have proven to be understanding of the situation,” he noted.
He said that at the same time, the CDC is now studying measures to enable investors here to operate at less cost.
“We are now studying the possibility of a moratorium on lease rate escalation. Such rates are supposed to increase from three to five percent every five or so years, “he said.
Ricafort also said the CDC plans to help retailers and other business establishments “which have not been making money” arising from the effects of the global crisis.
Only last Jan. 14, the CDC came out with a statement saying that an even a better employment is expected here this year despite worldwide economic woes.
“Over 5,000 new jobs were created at Clark in 2008 to boost employment to an all time high of 57,118 jobs since the CDC was created in 1993,” the CDC’s public relations department said.
The employment figure is expected to go higher as it was based on reports of only 347 out of 640 registered investors at this freeport, the CDC said.
“The employment increase is also expected this year amid the expected soft opening of US-based semi-conductor firm Texas instrument and the expansion programs of the five Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms operating inside the zone,” the CDC said.
CDC’s marketing department also reported that that 55 investment projects were signed last year, bringing to 781 the total number of investments this freeport.
Cyber City Teleservices Senior Executive Vice President George Sorio said that the effects of the global of financial crisis will not be “drastic in the Philippines.”
“Actually, there is still a scarcity of manpower in the BPO industry here in the Philippines which is why call center agents whose companies might close shop would only be absorbed by other BPOs,” Sorio said during the Regional Cluster Intrapreneurship Congress held here recently.
He added that “what the call center industry in the country needs right now is manpower.”
The CDC public relations department said the number of workers in Clark today is now more than three times the employment provided to Filipinos by Americans when this freeport was still a US air force base. On the average, the US base maintained a Filipino workforce of only 21,000.
The CDC noted that the biggest employers here are the investors in industrial electronics, garments, crafts, furniture and other manufacturing sectors with 28,452 workers or 51.50 percent of total Clark employment.
They are followed by information technology and telecommunications investors with 8,759 workers comprising 15.47 percent, and tourism and tourism-related firms with 6,835 workers comprising 12 percent.
