The Department of Labor and Employment has forged a Memorandum of Agreement with other government agencies and the Business Process Association of the Philippines for the implementation of the presidential scholarship program for call center agents and other Business Process Outsourcing workers.

DOLE said in a statement that the scholarship program is crucial to sustaining the country's cyber services sector as an engine of jobs and economic growth.

The agreement was signed by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas with Presidential Adviser Arthur Yap, Director General Augusto Boboy Syjuco of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and Rainerio Borja, president of the Business Process Association of the Philippine, at the DOLE office in Manila on Tuesday. Sto. Tomas said that MOA is in response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's instruction to the DOLE and its skills development arm, the TESDA, to implement the scholarship program to hone the skills and proficiency of the country's cyber services workforce, and ensure jobs and investments growth, the statement from DOLE said.

She added that the all the sectors involved are closely collaborating to ensure that there will be training opportunities, back jobs-skills mismatch, and growth of quality jobs in the cyber services sector.

Under the agreement, the sectors shall cooperate closely to implement the PGMA Training for Work Coupon in the BPO/Call Center Industry as an effective skills development intervention geared towards bridging the gap between the skills and qualifications of job seekers, and industry standards, DOLE added.*

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