BY JEFFREY DAMICOG
There is no influx of Chinese workers in construction projects in the country, assured Public Works Secretary Mark Villar Thursday.
“The presence of Chinese workers is very, very minimal. They are only there because there are certain technologies we don’t have a high level of expertise yet,” he said during an interview over CNN Philippines.
“There are a lot of best practices from around the world. There are constantly new technologies. It is important for us also to be open to these new technologies. Sometimes these would require the specialization of foreign workers,” Villar added.
Villar doused the fears of the rising number of Chinese construction workers after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) revealed during a Senate hearing last Wednesday the presence of Chinese workers in two grant projects in Metro Manila.
The DPWH said that the construction of the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge in Manila consists of a workforce of 45 percent Chinese and 55 percent Filipino while the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge project in Makati City consists of a workforce of 31 percent Chinese and 69 percent Filipino.
Villar explained the percentage of the number of workers depend on what stage the project is in.
“There are certain stages of construction that require more manual labor. And there are certain stages of construction that are more technical in nature,” the DPWH Secretary said. (Jeffrey Damicog)
