BPO Agents HIV Spike?
By Juan Dela Cruz

BPO workers in this part of Asia have become the biggest part of the population with HIV-AIDS cases in the past year. A Philippine government order directs pertinent agencies to redouble their efforts in AIDS awareness programs especially in the BPO sector. The highest-salaried working class has become the most diseased.

The Philippines, traditionally as a country, is ranked low in adult AIDS cases on a yearly basis. According to the CIA world fact book, compared to India (ranked number 3), the Philippines is way below at 100. This is probably because the country is traditionally conservative in matters of sex and relationships. However, the government feels that BPO workers exposure to work stress, way above average salaries and increasingly liberal behavior have put them at risk of acquiring the dreaded virus even more so than "underground" sex workers.

Just a few years ago, the most common HIV cases reported in the Philippines were mostly from Filipino seamen working in ships, sex workers in red light districts and people who travel frequently and are exposed to promiscuity. That's why most people including government health officials are flabbergasted at the ever increasing reported positive HIV infection cases coming from BPO workers who are, in general, not exposed to common factors shared by the 3 occupations mentioned. BPO workers are now the largest group in the working class having HIV-positive people in recent times. In an attempt to explain such a phenomena to the public, health officials have attributed this to BPO workers exposure to social networking sites and promiscuity between gay men in the BPO industry.

It all seems to be stereo-typing on the part of health officials according to the call center agent political group AKMA-PTM. According to one of the key AKMA-PTM officials I've spoken to recently, there is hardly any statistical basis for this claim in the absence of any formal study of the call center agents' social behaviors. According to this Philippine gay magazine report, BPO employers' association CCAP has only conducted one health-related study concerning their employees working night shifts. Philippines Labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, on its part, has only conducted mental health-related studies affecting BPO workers in the country. The AKMA-PTM official further presumes that the government is only relying on the occupational profile of BPO workers who have tested positive for HIV in the past few months. His group is trying to get the word out among their peers that this statement is unfair as it is the same as being branded an adulterer in society. It seems as though the government thinks that if you fit the profile of being a BPO employee, being gay and being active in social networks, it is very likely you have HIV/AIDS.

As to the real number, no one really knows. Publicly admitting one has AIDS is still a dreaded thought for anyone here in the country. Being gay in the BPO workplace is also considerable in my experience. In my view at least 2 in 20 BPO employees are gay but this doesn't necessarily mean they are promiscuous or they have AIDS.

(Email me news and tips at 1delacruise dot gmail dot com)