By Oliver Teves
The Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines - It's 9 p.m. as Tim Lavin walks into his office, but his staff greets him with "Good morning, sir."

At Ambergris Solutions, most of the work starts as lights wink out in other high rises in Manila's Ortigas business district. On the other side of the world, the company's American clients are beginning their day.

Behind Lavin, senior vice president for operations for one of the top Philippine call-center companies, recent college grads scurry to work stations.

The company is among 45 Filipino and foreign players in the Philippines' booming call-center business, which has generated 30,000 jobs here in just five years.

Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II touted it as a growth industry in October when the world's leading billing-and-customer-service operator, Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp., opened its first two call centers in the Philippines.

Who's on the line

From "almost unexplored territory" five years ago, Roxas projects the industry will employ 100,000 Filipinos by 2005. They handle call-in queries and technical support; e-mail, online chat, travel and consumer services; and medical and legal transcriptions.

"I have never seen the explosiveness or dynamic growth in an industry such as the Philippine call-center business, and we are just getting started," said Dave Crawford, Ambergris' vice president for information technology.

Meanwhile, the United States has lost 250,000 call-center jobs to India and the Philippines since 2001, according to Technology Marketing Corp. of Norwalk, Conn.

Lavin, 33, from Austin, Texas, said Ambergris' 1,400 "agents" field queries and assist customers for U.S. clients.

The Philippines' chief competitor in attracting call-center business is India, but the government and industry leaders say the Philippines has advantages.

Filipinos speak Americanized English as a second language, "while the Indians may speak the Queen's English," Crawford said.

The Philippines has a Call Center Academy that focuses on teaching English proficiency, as well as American culture, call-center technology and sales, telemarketing and customer service skills.

Sought-after job

With rising unemployment - 12.7 percent in July, up from 11.2 percent the previous year - the Philippines' call centers can be picky with new hires.

Jack Tuason, a director of Ambergris, said the company has been hiring about 150 to 200 people per month - only about 5 percent to 10 percent of the applicant pool in a country that produces about 385,000 college graduates a year.

The trade and industry department says a Philippine agent, with starting pay of $218 to $273 monthly, is more than what a new bank teller would get here.

Paula Angela Villadolid, training director for Convergys, said the company doesn't look specifically for an American accent, just one understandable to an American customer.

"It's been termed as a neutral accent," she said.

More important, she said, is understanding American culture to get a perspective on costumers' needs and the types of responses they require.

At Ambergris, workers are given USA Today and the most recent Texas travel guide to read between calls. They watch TV news from a Texas network.