Philippines fight terror with outsourced jobs.

MARAWI – 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.

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) program 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 programs and medical transcriptions for American clients.