The 45-day public works ban that will take effect on March 25 should be implemented in a way that it “will not affect jobs nor delay the completion of infrastructure projects in calamity areas,” Sen. Joel Villanueva said Sunday.
“Employment should not be a casualty of election. And pandemic recovery should not take a back seat to polls,” Villanueva, chair of the Senate labor committee, said.
“We have 10.1 million unemployed and underemployed. Let us not worsen this already bleak jobs picture,” he added.
Villanueva noted that the number of workers in construction dipped to 4 million after pandemic lockdowns stopped work on public and private projects.
As a share to GDP, government expenditures account for about 16 percent, “so any slowdown in public construction will drag down growth,” the senator said.
Villanueva said halting construction of schools and hospitals “during summer when it is the best time to build before the rains come” will set back their completion.
“We should also take advantage of the ‘good weather window’ to fix farm infrastructure like roads and irrigation,” he added.
Funding for P1.183 trillion worth of government infrastructure has been authorized in the 2022 national budget.
Villanueva said the government was still in a catch-up mode as a large chunk of 2020 and 2021 funds for infrastructure was shifted to boost health facilities and as aid to economically-hit households.
“If we press the ‘pause’ button, lalong atrasado na tayo,” he warned.
Election laws and the Comelec resolution, however, “grant a wide leeway in the handing out of exemptions to the public works ban,” Villanueva said.
Among projects exempted are those ongoing or awarded before March 25, as well as “emergency work necessitated by the occurrence of a public calamity.”