Bacolod City needs people from other areas to meet the demand for workers in call centers in the city, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said yesterday.

Leonardia, who spoke before members of the Negros Occidental Teachers Federation Inc., said that when Bacolod started in 2004, it was not even in the Information Technology map of the Philippines. Then the city government created an IT Focus Team in 2005, he said, and aggressively campaigned to make Bacolod the IT capital of Western Visayas.

"I'm glad to report to you that our efforts paid off," he told the teachers.

Leonardia said at least 2,500 new employment opportunities came up through the call centers in Bacolod in just a little more than a year.

Bacolod hosts TeleTech at Robinsons Metro in front of Bacolod City Airport and Teleperformance at Luxur Hotel in Magsaysay Avenue.

"This is not the end of the story yet, for the biggest call center in the country is also going to open soon in Bacolod ," he said, referring to Convergys.

"Let us be more focused on English," Leonardia urged the teachers. "We could give the necessary training for our students in their elementary and secondary years."*

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