MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was urged to create and send a strong contingent of Filipinos that would persuade lawmakers in the US Congress to stop the passage of a bill that could kill the US$9-billion business processing outsourcing (BPO) in the country.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, chairman of the House Committee on Public Information, lamented that US House Bill No. 3596 or the Call Center and Consumers Protection Bill will discourage American companies from outsourcing services in other countries like the Philippines.

“We have to act immediately by sending a strong lobby team in the US. I believe this will kill the BPO industry in the country,” Evardone said.

Evardone said that the measure pending in US Congress would impose a penalty of US$10,000 a day on any American firm that failed to report to the US Department of Labor about their relocation to an offshore location within 60 days.

He added that the measure requires the firms to inform the US Department of Labor 120 days in advance about their offshore plans and others.

“We have to protect and promote our BPO industry, which is now the largest in the whole world. We have already overtaken by India in voice information technology-BPO. We are number two in the world in complex, non-voice services in range of sectors and services, like animation development and software processing,” Evardone said.

He said the Philippines is number one in BPO in terms of voice information and number two in services.

Evardone said BPO and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remittances are key contributors in sustaining our economic growth and in minimizing the impact of US and European economic crisis.

“We need afford to lose our competitive advantage in the field of BPO. We need to protect, nurture and support the BPO industry, one of the main lifeblood of our economy,” said Evardone.

In 2011, the BPO industry generated $9 billion worth of revenues or 4.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product as it provides livelihood to about 400,000 Filipino professionals working in call center companies.

The Eastern Samar lawmaker added that the country generated less than P100 million in total revenues in 2011 and doubled yearly until it reached $3.3 billion in 2006.