Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday said the government needs to address the plight of construction workers employed for government infrastructure projects, saying the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) must ensure that workers are paid right and have ample opportunities to upskill.
At the hearing of the DPWH budget at the Senate on October 13, 2022, Cayetano said the Philippines should improve the conditions of construction workers as it ramps up construction of multi-billion peso projects.
“May I request that you look into it, if DPWH can have a monitoring system, or mag-submit under oath yung mga contractor na eto yung ginamit naming tao sa project na ito, o may checklist na bayad ang kanilang SSS, PhilHealth, etcetera,” he said.
“Tulong na natin sa construction workers yun,” the senator added.
Cayetano also said the public works department could consider entering into a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Constructors Association (PCA), a national group of construction companies and contractors, as well as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to provide mentorship and upskilling programs for construction workers.
He also pointed out that the DPWH must ensure technology transfer agreements especially with foreign assisted projects, such as those built with aid from Japan or China.
“Ang point nga, sa bawat project na malaki na gagawin natin, sana may mentorship at may transfer dito,” Cayetano said.
“Because these are big contracts, at dahil kumikita naman yung kontratista, baka we can inject a little bit more – I’m not saying walang nationalism – baka a little bit more nationalism in them, na meron din silang social obligation di ba. Kasi nga the contract is public, not private,” he explained.
Cayetano mentioned that US President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order (EO) to boost the quality of federal construction projects, with the welfare of construction workers among the top priorities.
Biden’s EO, among others, aims to improve the salaries and job quality for the nearly 200,000 workers on US federal construction contracts.
Cayetano said the Philippine government should create a similar order given the Marcos administration’s push for a “Build Better More” program, similar to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Build Build Build”.
“If we level the playing field in terms of the laborer agreement, then what’s left na lang is yung monitoring. Sa (nearly) P800 billion na budget ng DPWH, 25 percent of that is P200 billion, so that will go so far pag-address ng underemployment among construction workers,” he said.
“Hindi na natin babaratin ang mga construction workers natin,” he added.
