THE Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) will assure the top official of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) of its continuing efforts to ensure occupational safety and health standards among industry workers in the province.
Peza Director-General Charito Plaza will arrive in Bacolod City Tuesday afternoon to serve as one of the speakers in the orientation forum on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Standards for Business Process Outsourcing and Peza Zones at the Negros First Negosyo Center.
Plaza will also be the guest of honor during the 10th Anniversary celebration of BNEFIT at Seda Hotel in the evening.
Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of BNEFIT, Sunday said the organization's initiatives to ensure occupational safety and health standards among BPO workers include collaboration and support to the Department of Labor and Employment, Bureau of Fire Protection, and local government units.
Batapa-Sigue had earlier said there is a need to organize a big OSH workshop for local ICT industry during the first quarter of the year
“BNEFIT aims to promote Bacolod City and Negros Occidental as a hub for ICT jobs where workplaces are safe and healthy,” she reiterated.
During the activity, the federation will also ask the support of Peza in promoting Bacolod City for knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and high skills information technology (IT) services.
These skills include software development, healthcare information management (HIM) and creative industries.
Batapa-Sigue said they will also present to Plaza their full support to the continuation of incentives to IT-enabled services under Peza.
“We will also assure her of our support to the goal of spreading the jobs to the countryside," she added.
BNEFIT was established on January 30, 2008 after stakeholders from the academe, government, and industry gathered to create a province-wide organization in the bid to make Bacolod City and Negros Occidental become globally competitive in the ICT industry.
Its target was to create 10,000 jobs by 2010 and become part of the Philippine Cyber-Corridor Cities.
Bacolod is a Center of Excellence for ICT since 2013, and host to more than 20 ICT firms providing jobs to almost 30,000 Negrenses and Filipinos.
“We shall celebrate this milestone with our founders and partners. We are proud to welcome Peza Director General Charito Plaza as our guest of honor," Batapa-Sigue said, adding that Peza will also be recognized as one of their partners.