BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya said yesterday that he has requested Dr. Marlyn Convocar, regional director of the Department of Health, to call for a meeting with government agencies to discuss the concerns of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies in Western Visayas in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia also led a virtual meeting of city officials with representatives of BPO companies in the city yesterday afternoon, to assess their compliance with basic health protocols as mandated by the Department of Trade and industry (DTI) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other precautionary measures against the virus.
Gasataya said he was informed that a call center employee in Bacolod City succumbed to COVID-19, although he believes that BPO companies in the city are implementing measures to protect their workers.
He suggested that the DOH holds a meeting with the DTI and DOLE in coordination with local government and the city’s inter-agency task force against COVID-19 (IATF) in line with the situation of the BPO industry in the region.
Gasataya said he was informed by Convocar that the regional directors of the DOLE, DTI and BPO companies are willing to sit down to discuss possible measures to address the concerns of the BPO industry.
“They have to be pro-active in addressing the increasing cases of COVID-19 all over the city and in preventing what happened in Iloilo from happening to the BPO sector in Bacolod as much as possible,” Gasataya said.
Meanwhile, the Bacolod solon said he has donated bond paper to 72 public elementary and high schools in Bacolod to be used by teachers to print their modules.
He was informed that the DepEd has a budget allocated for this but classes are scheduled to open soon and teachers urgently need the modules, he said.
They have started distributing bondpaper to the schools since the first week of July and completed the distribution yesterday, Gasataya said*
