Use local labor in typhoon rehab, contractors urged

Sisters Jenelyn and Renee Rise Astorga, both typhoon survivors, rest with plastic bags of relief supplies they received from good samaritans inside their shack Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013, in Tacloban City. The Department of Public Works and Highways is overseeing the construction of temporary shelters in Eastern Visayas. Private contractors have been told to use local labor. AP PHOTO/BULLIT MARQUEZ

MANILA, Philippines—Private contractors undertaking reconstruction work in Central and Eastern Visayas must employ local labor, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said on Friday.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), in a statement, quoted Singson as telling DPWH regional directors and district engineers temporarily assigned to oversee the construction of temporary shelters in Eastern Visayas: “See to it that the private contractors utilize local labor, especially those affected by the calamity to enable them to bounce back.”

The temporary assignments were: to Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte, of National Capital Region Director Reynaldo Tagudando; to Ormoc City of Calabarzon Director Huillio Belleza; and to Eastern Samar of Bicol Director Danilo Dequito.

Tagudando told Singson the construction of temporary shelters in Barangay (village) Abucay, Tacloban, and the government center in Palo, Leyte, was ongoing, while the other directors said they were awaiting delivery of construction materials on site.

The DPWH said it was constructing 230 temporary shelters or bunkhouses at 21 sites in Tacloban, Palo, Ormoc, Basey and Marabut in Western Samar, and in Guian, Hernani and Giporlos in Eastern Samar.

Included in the DPWH shelter plan is the resettlement of families, both formal and informal settlers, living within the mandatory 40-meter easement from the shoreline to safer government resettlement sites.

Housing materials assistance will also be provided affected families and those whose properties are located on safer ground or outside “no build zones” as declared by the environment and other departments.

De Asis reported the deployment of 379 pieces of heavy and other construction equipment, 306 from the DPWH and 69 from private contractors, composed of dump trucks, payloaders, backhoes, bulldozers, barges, water trucks, shuttle buses, generator sets and other equipment in various areas of Eastern Visayas.

Singson said the reconstruction and rehabilitation of government infrastructure damaged by calamities shall be guided by the principle of “Build back better resilient structures.”

The secretary said the DPWH was conducting an inventory of affected government public buildings in Eastern Visayas to include hospitals, schools and offices under “Operation Yolanda” with DPWH engineers from the central office, NCR and Caraga assisting DPWH Eastern Visayas in checking their structural integrity to prevent further disaster.