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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Asia Pacific World Search Search: Fighting the war on terror with outsourcing AFP - Sunday, June 14 MARAWI, Philippines (AFP) - - When American consumers dial a toll-free hotline for customer service support, they may not be aware they are helping bring an end to a long-running insurgency half way across the world. ADVERTISEMENT Some of the calls are routed to a call centre in the Philippines' southern Muslim heartland, the Southeast Asian theatre of the US-led war on terror where part of a new strategy is to smother the insurgency with job empowerment. The US Agency for International Development through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) programme has teamed up with a business process outsourcing firm, known as a BPO, in a novel venture to train and employ youths in this Muslim stronghold. The rationale is to teach them English and hire them for backroom jobs outsourced by American firms seeking to cut operational costs at home. Those behind the scheme hope that with more money and improved living standards, many will be weaned away from violence and contribute to developing a region racked by 40 years of insurgency. "We are hoping to give them stable, long-term employment," said Rene Subido, a GEM official who helped devise the plan. "By giving them a stake in the development here, they will have more to lose if the war continues." Subido said the Nevada-based BPO firm, the Hubport Group, had initially been apprehensive about setting up in the Muslim Mindanao but was won over by the talent and eagerness of the region's youth. They set up a 24-hour back-room operation at Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) where 42 employees churn out web designs, software programmes and medical transcriptions for American clients. Others specialise in technical support, guiding clients thousands of miles away as they trouble-shoot web pages. No one had ever thought of setting up in the southern Philippines because of the violence, said Hubport chief operating officer Eric Manalastas during a recent tour of the facility by visiting diplomats. He said the firm -- which also has offices in Singapore, Canada, Britain, Japan and Saudi Arabia -- believes the south has enough manpower "who if given the room to grow, can be harnessed into a highly efficient and competitive force that can match global standards". A large part of the manpower will come from MSU's main campus in Marawi, an impoverished city on the shore of the picturesque Lanao lake where Arabic is widely taught and spoken. It also is the heart of Islam in Mindanao, the Philippines' main southern island where Muslim separatists have been waging a decades-long rebellion to carve out an independent state. Militants with links to Al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) are also known to operate in the area, which intelligence experts consider fertile ground for recruitment. A small room inside a brick building has been transformed into a speech and computer laboratory, where local tutors teach English. For computer programmer Muhammad Husshan, 20, working for Hubport means he will be able to send money to his parents and seven siblings living elsewhere in the south. "I hope more young people will be given jobs and will be trained in companies like this," he said. Like many here, Husshan believes that Muslims have been unjustly sidelined by the Manila government, but he added: "I think people would not pick up guns if they are busy with jobs." Small numbers of US troops have been rotating in the southern Philippines since 2003, when President Gloria Arroyo sought help to crush Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for high profile kidnappings and bombings. Remnants of Abu Sayyaf still roam the south, while tens and thousands remain displaced by 10 months of fighting between troops and the main insurgent group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The US government meanwhile has given millions in development aid, with promises of more funds if insurgents signed a peace accord. "I think that shift in policy is helping more in the anti-terror war than the fighting," says Virgilio Leyretana, chairman of the Mindanao Economic Development Council. "Of course, nothing can be solved overnight. And for as long as Mindanao is pictured as a troublesome place, businesses will shy away." Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 0 users recommend Related Articles: Entertainment & Lifestyle Somali Islamists issue blanket ban on moviesAFP - 1 hour 50 minutes ago Kapoor dismisses 'Slumdog' criticismAFP - Sunday, June 14 Could Palin flap be Letterman's Hugh Grant?AP - Sunday, June 14 Tanya Tucker reconnects with fans at CMA festivalAP - Sunday, June 14 Phish, in first appearance, comes home to BonnarooAP - Sunday, June 14 Enlarge Photo Computer programmer Muhammad Husshan, 20, works at the Hubport call center at the Mindanao State University campus in Iligan, in the southern Philippines in May 2009. Husshan is among the lucky few Muslim youths employed by the Nevada-based company, in a joint project with the US government to teach American English to Muslim youths as part of a campaign to wean them away from Islamic militancy. Most Popular – Entertainment Viewed Dumped mattress lands cash in trash in Israel Obama signs note for girl who played hooky to see him Hell of Afghanistan brought home to British troops Luanda is world's most expensive expat city: survey Ramsay eats humble pie after mum scolds him View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community - Intellectual Property Rights Policy - Help

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