Four Bicol chamber execs attend nat’l, ASEAN employers’ confab

RESORTS WORLD MANILA --- Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday urged the country’s top employers and business leaders to harness labor and social policies towards addressing impending disruptions wrought by emerging technologies. Keynoting the 39th National Conference of Employers (NCE) at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, Resorts World Manila, the vice president quoted the apprehensions expressed by experts that the 900,000 BPO jobs in the country may possibly be wiped out in three or five years from now by artificial intelligence (AI). She said that given our creativity, new technologies may actually be our ally while we continue to invest in our own people’s learnings such as promoting livelihood trainings, especially for those who are in the lower rung of our society. She said we can continue going ahead by capitalizing on our enhancing our skills for adaptability, creativity and relationships that will set us apart form the machines. She warned against “robotizing humanity” and thus deprive us of heart and soul in pursuing enterprises. Five top officers of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) Bicol Chapter and the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) are among those attending the ongoing 39th National Conference of Employers (NCE) and the ASEAN Confederation of Employers’ (ACE) Regional Conference that kicked off yesterday, April 18, until Friday, April 20 at Marriott Grand Ballroom, Resorts World Manila. President Clarine P. Tobias of ECOP Bicol and concurrently Regional Governor for Bicol of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and President Ferdinand D. Sia of the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, along with Bicol Mail Editor Jose B. Perez, MNCCI secretary general and executive director of ECOP Bicol, and President Mergie Moraleda of PCCI Camarines Norte composed the Bicol participants to the conference. Meanwhile, UP Professor Dante Canlas who was former director general of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) gave a sadder picture of the country in the next few years during the plenary session on “Emerging Global Scenarios and their Implications to Business”. He warned about the rising crude oil and petroleum prices, the slowdown of OFW deployment in the Middle East, and the resulting moderate income remittances by OFWs. Every year in the conference, the nation’s business leaders, corporate executives and entrepreneur discuss issues that affect the business sector. It also highlights a forum to ventilate the sector position on significant national policy and socio-economic concerns. The Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC), being a tripartite body that includes the employers sector in the agency’s policy and programs formulation, has consistently supported this annual endeavor of ECOP. This year’s conference carries the theme, “Asean Employers: Empowering People, Prioritizing Skills.,” ECOP is presently composed 523 members nationwide: business chambers, associations, federations, corporations, and other companies.