Lakas-Kampi vice presidential candidate Edu Manzano has expressed concern that the call center industry is pulling young people away from higher learning
or professional disciplines needed in building a strong country.

He called for the "revisiting" of the education system in the Philippines when he spoke before hundreds of students and faculty members in a visit here, Wednesday.

“To be globally competitive, what is being looked at today is having PhDs (and the) mechanisms where students are active (and) vying for higher learning,” Manzano said in a mix of English and Filipino during a forum held at the University of the Perpetual Help System here.

He came with presidential candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and visited the town of San Pedro and the cities of Biñan and Sta. Rosa.

“(But) There’s a problem. ‘Wag ho sanang magagalit yung iba sa ‘tin dito, pero maraming first year college tapos umaalis. Call center! Ang starting sa call center P16,000; dalawa sa pamilya P32,000; maginhawa na ang buhay ng pamilyang iyon (But there’s a problem, I hope I’m not offending some of you, but a lot of first year college students drop out of school to work in a call center. The starting salary in a call center is P16,000. Two in the family, that would be P32,000. That already makes a good living).

Manzano, who said he conducted his “personal study” of the call centers, said call center workers accounted for the highest number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases, drug abuse, alcoholism, problems in the family and low self-esteem.

Call centers and the business process outsourcing industry were among the economic legacies President Macapagal-Arroyo boasted in her legacy tours across the nation.

“These are social causes. We can’t have that kind of citizenry (but) we need educated citizenry if we plan to move forward,” Manzano said.

“There is nothing wrong with the system, but the status (in the) system,” he replied to a question on possibly initiating changes in the education curriculum.

He said the Philippine government has been spending only $134 per student per year, while countries such as Singapore and Japan have been spending $1,800 and $5,000, respectively, for each of their students.

Source: Newsinfo.inquirer.net