MANILA -- Public-private partnerships and better education will keep the Philippines on the top spot in the Business Process Outsourcing sector.

According to Senator Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Congressional Commission on Science Technology and Engineering (Comste), the BPO sector needs to be upgraded for better growth and it can be done through the PPPs and updated education modules.

Citing the "IT-BPO Road Map 2011-2016: Driving Global Leadership" of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Angara said BPOs are expected to earn around $20 billion by 2016 and would then be employing around 900,000.

"But the study indicates that we can grow at an even faster rate and achieve $25 billion and 1.3 million employees by 2016 if we can significantly strengthen our PPPs programs, and improve both the quantity and quality of our talent supply," he said.

According to BPAP, the BPO sector is shifting focus from voice services and into fields like medical, legal, and IT outsourcing.

Angara said the Philippines will need to be able to fill the expected demand for highly-trained and well-educated employees for these fields.

“Our educational system has to adjust to modern technology and the challenges of the new century. We have to give our youth the tools they need to be able to maintain a high level of competitiveness in the global arena,” he noted. (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)