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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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MANILA – At least four government agencies were urged to hire more engineering personnel to prevent delays in infrastructure projects.
Hold a job fair to fill vacancies in engineering and other construction-related positions, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto asked the departments of Public Works and Highways, Education, Transportation, and Health.
Manpower shortage is a significant cause of delay in public construction projects, stressed Recto. “The backlog is due to what is called technical deficit. Maraming ahensya ay kulang sa mga taong mangangasiwa sa mga proyekto.”
“For this year and next year, these four agencies will be building easily P1.5 trillion worth of infrastructures. Hindi pa kasama ang mga pinondohan ng Official Development Assistance at Public-Private Partnership,” he said.
Job vacancies at the Public Works department were at 1,777, while the Transportation and the Communications sectors needed 1,297 workers, Recto said.
For the Education department, the national government aims to build nearly 50,000 classrooms next year, said Recto.
Citing information from the Commission on Audit, the senator said the Education sector failed to use P43 billion of its P412 billion budget in 2016.
The department also failed to use its P2.2 billion budget for buildings and equipment for the senior high school technical-vocational track, state auditors said.
The same was true with the multiyear Health Facilities Enhancement Projects, which receive billions of pesos in funding every year for the construction of hospitals, rural health units and barangay clinics.
“Ang resulta tuloy ay it is suffering from an acute constipation of projects,” said Recto. “Ang problema sa DepEd, kulang ng engineers. Kaya one to two years delayed ang delivery ng classrooms. Ang DOH, ganoon din, kasi nga bulto ng mga empleyado nila mga manggagamot, hindi mga builders.”
Recto suggested that the government move up the salary scales to compete in the job market and attract more applicants.
He also asked the Budget department to review pay ceilings. “It can scrap unfilled and unneeded lower paying items, and consolidate them into one position with a higher pay. Sa ganoon, walang dagdag na pondo.”/PN
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