MANILA – Public Works secretary Mark Villar denied there was an influx of Chinese workers in some China-funded infrastructure projects in the country.
Villar said the presence of these foreign workers is “very minimal” compared to the employment of Filipino laborers as the former were just here to help the local team navigate new infrastructure technologies.
“There’s no big influx of Chinese workers,” Villar said in an interview with CNN Philippines’ The Source on Thursday. “There are only Chinese workers in several projects, relative to tens of thousands of projects across the country.”
“And they’re only there because there are certain technologies that we don’t have a high level of expertise yet. They’re there to guide us. They are just some specialists for very specific, very few projects that require new technology,” he added.
An official of the Department of Public Works and Highways earlier said Chinese workers have been employed in two projects funded by Beijing, particularly the Pantaleon-Estrella Bridge and the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge.
According to DPWH Undersecretary Emil Sadain, the two projects have listed 31 percent and 45 percent of Chinese workers, data which did not sit well with members of the Senate.
In response, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Chinese government should also be given leeway in hiring workers for its sponsored projects.
According to Villar, he earlier issued a department directive for the priority hiring of Filipino workers, adding that it has always been the policy of the DPWH.
“There are certain stages of construction that require more manual labor, and there are certain stages of construction that are more technical in nature. Once you get to the manual labor, then it shifts, then it becomes more Filipino workers. But it’s different stages of different projects,” Villar said./PN
