Bill limiting foreign contractors in PH projects sought

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said he plans to file a bill seeking to limit the participation of foreign contractors in infrastructure projects in the country to avoid a scenario where foreigners would take over even the construction of canals and other small projects.

“I’m planning to file a bill which will limit the entrance of foreign construction companies in the country,” he told reporters in an online interview on Thursday.

This, as he lamented a recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld a lower court’s decision voiding a provision of Republic Act No. 4566 or the Contractors Licensing Law Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) that foreign firms are only entitled to a special contractor’s license.

“According to the Supreme Court, it does not limit foreign firms from getting contractor’s licenses dito sa bansa, whether large or small,” Zubiri told reporters.

What this implicates, Zubiri said, is that different companies can now participate even in small-scale projects.

“Imagine, yung paggawa ng kanal pwede nilang applyan, pwede po silang sumama sa bidding, paggawa po ng maliit na kalsada, yung mga farm to market roads sa iba’t ibang rural areas, pwede na po silang mag-participate,” the senator said.

“Ang masama do’n ay siyempre mawawalan po ng trabaho ang ating mga kababayan dahil ang uunahin po nila, ang foreign workers dahil sila po ay foreign contractor,” he added.

He said his bill seeks to amend Republic Act No. 456 to limit all the number of foreign contractors that can apply for projects in the Philippines.

“Kung hindi po [natin lilimithan], baka sa buong Pilipinas, Chinese na po ang nagtatrabaho nga mga kanal, ng mga kalsada, maglalagay po ng water system sa mga barangay, baka Intsik na po ang papasok na yan at hindi na po Pilipino,” he said.

Zubiri’s planned bill, he said, will propose a cap on the size of the project foreign firms can undertake.

“We will limit it to maybe projects that are P2-billion and above for example a highly technical bridge…These are big projects may need foreign intervention, foreign assistance, okay po sa amin yon, walang problema,” he said, noting that the workforce should be at least composed of 80 to 90 percent Filipinos.

Should there be foreign workers, they should only be involved in technical work, he added.

“They may participate in these large flagship projects but their workforce should be at least 80 to 90 percent Filipino. That’s what we’re going to study,” he said.

Earlier, some senators raised concerns over the participation of foreign workers, particularly Chinese nationals, in infrastructure projects in the Philippines.

EDV