TRADE Secretary Ramon Lopez welcomed Friday, May 21, the Inter-Agency Task Force’s (IATF) recommendation to include the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry’s frontline workers in the Priority Group A4 for Covid-19 vaccination.

In a statement, Lopez cited the BPO’s “huge contribution” in the country’s export revenues, saying it reached close to $30 billion a year, “which is bigger than overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) remittances.”

“The Philippines has become among the biggest BPO players in the world, generating around 1.32 million direct employment and four million indirect employment,” he said.

“This is the only sector that didn’t lay off workers and even continued to hire during this pandemic. This is helping the economy in its recovery efforts, in saving jobs, and contributions to dollar revenue generation. That, in turn, is helping solidify further the economic fundamentals of the country and stable credit rating for the country,” Lopez added.

The IATF, under Resolution 116 released Friday, May 21, recommended to the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (iNitag) the inclusion of the BPO frontline employees under the Priority Group A4.

The inclusion was endorsed by the Department of Trade the Industry for IATF’s approval.

The A4 group generally refers to frontline personnel in essential sectors, including uniformed personnel. (LMY)