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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Rescue stranded construction workers–solon

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A leader of the House of Representatives on Monday called on the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases to draw up a rescue program for possibly hundreds of thousands of construction workers stranded in their urban job-sites, as the opening salvo of President Duterte’s fresh initiative to reverse migration and spur rural prosperity.

Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte made the statement following the Palace's issuance of Executive Order (EO) 114 on the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa program.

"The IATF should work out a rescue plan with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and provincial governors along with mayors of cities and municipalities where suspended construction projects are located in keeping with the intent of Balik Probinsya at this time of a global health crisis," said Villafuerte.

Villafuerte’s proposed Balik Probinsya initiative will involve providing daily food packs to the stranded laborers until such time that they are able to go back to their provinces—which, he said, should be ASAP (as soon as possible).

Villafuerte, a former Camarines Sur governor, said the rescue plan for stranded construction laborers could be likened to the repatriation services that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) have been giving to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in distress in their respective host countries.

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The institutionalization of Balik Probinsya, according to the President in his EO 114, is meant to “reverse migration to the NCR (National Capital Region) and other congested metropolises to attain rural prosperity.”

President Duterte created a council—to be chaired by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea—to carry out Balik Probinsya, and directed the appropriate agencies to hasten efforts to bring back people to their home provinces by providing transportation and relocation to those who are voluntarily availing themselves of the program.

“Enabling these stranded workers to return home and eventually secure jobs and livelihood opportunities in their provinces is at the heart of Balik Probinsya,” Villafuerte said in reference to this project first pushed by Sen. Christopher Lawrence Go.

Go said he had been told by National Housing Authority general manager Marcelino Escalada Jr. and Mindanao Development Authority Secretary Emmanuel Piñol that CamSur and five more provinces are ready to participate in the testing phase of the program. The other provinces are Leyte, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Bukidnon and North Cotabato.

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