CALIFORNIA - During his third and last State of the Union Address for his administration on Tuesday, President Obama spelled out his position on two key issues that affect Filipinos.

He outlined his renewed push for Congress to pass his Immigration Reform Bill and to resurrect the federal Dream Act bill, which would benefit undocumented Filipinos in the US seeking a path to legal status.

Push for Dream Act

Despite entrenched opposition in Congressional Republicans, Obama asked both chambers to pass the federalized version of the Dream Act: a bill that would create a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants who are college students and military service members.

He also encouraged lawmakers to increase the number of visas for undocumented highly skilled immigrants, many of whom completed graduate degrees in the US.

“If election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this country,” said Obama.

Obama also touted his administration for having hired more Border Patrol agents and that the number of illegal crossings has declined since he took office.

Penalties for outsourcing

Obama urged Congress to send him a bill to create more jobs locally and to penalize companies that outsource jobs with higher taxes.

“It's time to turn our unemployment system into a re-employment system that puts people to work,” he said.

The Philippine economy relies heavily on jobs outsourced by American companies. The Philippines has surpassed India as the top destination for job outsourcing.

Fil-Am businessmen

"Call centers, textiles, manufacturing, these are huge industries and if you put a clamp on those companies that are able to save some monies by going overseas, by stopping that, we're going to see a probably bigger recession," explained Jun Jao, the president-elect of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County (FACCOC)

FACCOC member Andy Kim, a Korean American who owns Western Yarn Dyeing does all his manufacturing in the US. He feels that outsourcing should be a choice for individual businesses based on their profits and he doubts Obama would be able to pass any legislation on outsourcing.

“I don't think it makes any sense whatsoever because companies always do what it is necessary to produce profits," predicted Kim.

PH call centers not worried

Call center operators in the Philippines that serve mostly US clients on Wednesday shrugged off Obama’s initiative to bring outsourced jobs back home.

Industry members are monitoring developments in the US, including proposed legislation to discourage outsourcing.

“At the end, it will not be politics but it will be the bottom line,” said Martin Crisostomo who heads the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.
 
The Philippines has an English-speaking work force and employs some 600,000 workers in the business process outsourcing industry.

Industry experts said the Philippines hopes to raise the number of outsourcing workers to 1.3 million by 2016 and revenues to $25 billion from around $11 billion in 2011.