Suspension of SSI has implications on BPO industry, says official

DAVAO CITY — Suspending the company whose 37 employees died in a fire just two days before Christmas here will result in about P97 million in lost salaries in the information technology-business process management industry, an industry association official said. “That is why we have to find a way to enable (Research Now) SSI to resume operations,” said lawyer Samuel R. Matunog, president of Information and Communication Technology Davao, on Monday in reference to the company’s impending suspension of operations. Mr. Matunog’s reaction came about after the Philippine Economic Zone Authority announced it was suspending the company. Thirty-seven of its employees perished following a fire that razed down the NCCC Mall on Dec. 23 last year. Mr. Matunog said his association is urging the government to lift the suspension order as the company, which started its operations in the city in 2008 as a market researcher using telephone interview services, has started looking for a new location for its operations so that its 500 employees could resume their jobs. The company said it is planning to resume operations within the next two months in another cite in the city so that its employees can return to work. The company announced that even when the employees have not gone back to work, they continue to receive their salaries as it is also “exploring (other) avenues to provide them with employment.” It added that it has continued to “reimburse employees for personal effects that were destroyed in the fire. As assistance to the victims’ families, it said it has raised about $115,000 in funds. This developed as a city councilor proposed that companies set up photo luminescent paints on hallways and fire exits as part of the mechanism to help employees get out of burning buildings. Councilor Maria Belen S. Acosta, head of the public safety committee of the local legislative body, said other countries have used the glow-in-the-dark paint “to guide persons to emergency exits and other possible means of egress especially when the power goes out.” —