A laborer is mashing concrete in a construction of a new high-rise condo unit along C.M. Recto (Claveria) Street in Davao City. (File photo/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The construction boom felt in Mindanao is seen as a major factor that could potentially decongest the Philippine capital of Manila, where millions of Filipinos from the provinces go for work opportunities.
Patrick-Lawrence C. Tan, chief executive officer of Global-Link MP Events International (GLMP), said with the growing big-ticket projects in the south, ”this will bring people back to Mindanao.”
Apart from migrating abroad, Filipinos from the provinces move to the capital due to a mindset that work opportunities cannot be found be found back home. But Michael Te, president of Davao Constructors Association Center Inc., disagrees, saying in the construction sector alone, demand for manpower has exceeded the supply of workers.
“There is now a shortage of manpower,” Te told reporters on September 5.
Development projects are labor intensive, with the Ayala-Alcantara project in Davao as one of the examples. In August, the partnership said it would employ at least 13,000 people.
Construction is the country’s leading industry subsector in terms of the amount of workers it employs, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
In the same April 2017 data, Mindanao had a lower unemployment rate at 4%, compared to the national rate at 5.7%.
Contractors based in Mindanao had reaped billions worth of government projects. In 2012-2013, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported that Davao-based Vicente T. Lao Construction acquired projects with the agency with a total amount of of P13.5 billion, followed by Butuan City’s Equi-Parco Construction Company at P13.6 billion, Ozamiz City’s Grace Construction Corporation at P13.2 billion, and Davao City’s Ulticon Builders Inc. at P4.1 billion. (davaotoday.com)
