Mayor Eyes Transport System for Call Center Companies (OCT 2006)

By Doris C. Bongcac
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 02:51pm (Mla time) 10/27/2006

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña plans to develop a transportation system for call center firms that will relocate at the South Road Properties (SRP).

Osmeña wants the system to be tested first on a call center firm in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.
If successful, the system would be be adopted by other call centers that would wish to relocate to the SRP, he said.

“Many call centers are interested in coming to the SRP but we want to put up a transportation system first,” he said.

Because he would not allow the entry of public utility vehicles into the SRP, Osmeña said, the city government has to design a transportation system for those who would be working in the area.

“We are adjusting to their needs, we are not asking them to adjust to us,” the mayor said.

To test his plan on the operation a government-run transportation system, Osmeña said, he would assign a Kaoshiung bus to pick up employees of Convergys in barangay Guadalupe and bring them to and from their workplaces, especially late at night.

Osmeña said the company would be made to pay for the use of the city-owned bus and the services of a detailed driver.

The mayor said he wanted to detail a member of the Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN), like those deployed to help secure government offices, as bus driver.

The transportation system, he said, would later be imitated for call centers and other industries that would soon be established at the SRP, he said.

The SRP, he said, is designed as an economic zone that would cater mostly to export producing industries that would bring dollars to Cebu City.

Call centers, Osmeña said, are also exporting services to foreign countries and could be accommodated at the SRP.

Employees from these call centers are also prospective clients for at least 18 restaurants that he would wish to occupy an area near the seawall and a man-made white sand beach at the SRP.

Osmeña said he also plans to invite an educational institution that would offer courses for a masters degree to call center employees “for their human resource development”.

“Our problem here is that many of the call centers are unable to recruit college students because they are perceived as a dead-end job”.

Even employees of the mayor's management team, who are only paid P10,000monthly have refused to work in call centers because of their quest for a more challenging job, Osmeña said.

The presence of an educational institution at the SRP is expected to help correct misconceptions on call center jobs.

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More Projects at SRP Eyed for Inmates (OCT 2006)

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By Doris C. Bongcac, Jhunnex Napallacan, Chris Ligan
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 10:52am (Mla time) 10/25/2006

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has thought of another work opportunity for inmates at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC).

Osmeña said he would also want selected inmates to help in the establishment of a man-made white sand beach at the seawall of the South Road Properties (SRP)...

A total of 30 inmates from the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) have been selected for work in the South Road Properties (SRP), according to Chief Inspector Gil Inopia, BBRC deputy warden.

The selected inmates await the go-signal from Mayor Osmeña, Inopia said.

Inopia said it was their administrative division that recommended the inmates for the SRP work.

The recommended list, however, needs to be approved by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Central Visayas, Inopia said.

In addition to the one million sand bags to be manufactured by the prisoners, Osmeña wants an area of 1.4 kilometers of the seawall filled with finely crashed rocks to convert it into a shoreline.

Dakay Construction is now working on a small portion of the seawall measuring about 50 meters wide, where they are testing the viability of the mayor's project. The test area would also determine the volume of crushed stone needed for the white sand beach.

Osmeña earlier said he wanted to hire BBRC inmates due for release to manufacture sand bags needed to open interior roads at the SRP and to paint a portion of the seawall and the sidewalk.

He said one million sand bags need to be produced within the next six months.

The mayor thought of using sand bags as foundation for interior roads because of their durability. The sand bags would later be covered by asphalt.

Councilors Edgardo Labella and Hilario Davide III are supportive of the mayor's plan to employ inmates.

Labella, however, wanted to be clarified on the legal procedures in acquiring the services of the prisoners.

“Maayo ang katuyo-an sa mayor to make them productive but we need the permission of the court. Kinahanglan ug pagtoon on the filing of necessary motions in court,” he said.

BBRC jail warden Efren Nemeño, for his part, said the plan to tap the BBRC prisoners for manual labor at the SRP was already “approved in principle” by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Nemeño said BJMP chief Superintendent Antonio Cruz had already approved the plan during their conversation last week after the city government sent him the letter about Mayor Tomas Osmeña's plan.

Nemeño said he personally talked to Cruz last week during the shooting competition of BJMP officers.

Cruz seemed to be happy with the idea because this would help in rehabilitating the prisoners, Nemeño said.

To ensure the plan has no legal impediment, they have referred it to the legal department of the BJMP.

Nemeño said Cruz may issue a memorandum this week for the approval of the plan after the findings of their legal department. If the legal department recommends that they would need a court order, they would get one, he said.

Nemeño said he personally believed the court only needed to be informed.

Nemeño said once the court had convicted someone, the jurisdiction of the prisoners would now go to the jail warden.

Out of respect to the court, however, Nemeño said BBRC was informing the court about the idea.

IBP Cebu City President Alex Tolentino, who is apprehensive about the plan, did not object to it.

“First, this is very risky. Second, they have to ask permission from the court”, Tolentino said.

Tolentino said it was difficult to say if it was legal or not because there was no jurisprudence tackling the idea.

Inopia said the 30 inmates selected faced minor cases and have three to six months’ stay in the city jail left.

“Pagsiguro nga di mopuga ang patrabahoon sa SRP, gipili namo ang gagmay og kaso ug hapit na molaya,” Inopia said.

Police and court officials are still studying the proposal to hire inmates for manual labor in the SRP, paying detainees P100 a day and offering free meals.

The scheme, which would save costs for the city government, is mainly intended to rehabilitate detainees of the overcrowded Cebu City jail.

If implemented, the plan would be the first program of its kind in the country.

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