ITAP president Victoria P. Agorrilla said in a press interview that its members have already started sharing resumes of their personnel for job matching opportunities. She said some IT employees that have lost jobs in one IT company may find positions in other firms that continue to have openings for IT-skilled personnel.
US chipmaker giant Intel recently shut down its assembly test facility in Cavite, Philippines, which displaced at least 1,800 workers. Other electronics players with Philippine operations including Texas Instruments, Amkor, and Philips have also slashed hundreds of jobs as part of their streamlining strategies to cope with the crisis. Government reports estimate that at least 60,000 workers in the electronics sector alone would be affected nationwide.
Agorrilla said there is no way for the local IT sector to be spared from the global crisis but its impact could be managed. One of the priority areas for ITAP is the preservation of IT talents, she said.
"As much as possible, we want the IT people to stay in the industry before they consider moving to other sectors," Agorrilla said. She said retrenched IT workers already have invaluable training and experience and it is beneficial for the industry to keep these talents. ITAP is already rebuilding its website to facilitate the sharing of HR resources data among members.
The association currently has 39 member companies and it plans to increase its membership to at least 50 by the end of the year.
Agorrilla said ITAP will also meet with Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III, chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) to discuss other measures that the government and industry can take to soften the impact of retrenchments in the IT industry.
For its part, Roxas-Chua said CICT plays "a central role" in helping mitigate the effects of the crisis in the Philippine IT sector. He said the commission is coordinating with the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and putting greater focus on talent development. The government will also take more proactive steps in promoting the Philippines as an outsourcing hub, said Roxas-Chua, who was guest speaker during the induction of ITAP's new officers.