President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called business process outsourcing (BPO) company Atento’s plan to establish its first call center in the Philippines a step in the right direction as “Filipinos speak and write the best English.”

Marcos made the remark during a meeting with Atento president Fili Ledezma Soto and chief delivery officer Josh Ashby at the Blair House in Washington DC on Tuesday afternoon (US time).

He said this is a line of work that has become well-established in the Philippines, which is among the world’s top destinations for BPO.

“I know it will be successful because it has been successful in the past. It has been a go-to industry for the Philippine government for quite a long time now,” Marcos said.

Atento officials, meanwhile, assured Marcos of their commitment to start their call center at the Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, Iloilo.

Atento is a customer relationship management and business process outsourcing company operating in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, and the United States.

Former president and House of Representatives Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was present during the meeting, along with Speaker Ferdinand Romualdez, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, and Special Assistant to the President Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez and DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo were also present during the meeting. (PNA)