Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte has proposed the inclusion of construction activities as essential services exempted from whatever containment measures remain beyond April 30, the supposed end of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon.
He says President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature initiative “Build, Build, Build” must be put back on track as infrastructure investments offer the highest multiplier effects—and even as the COVID-19 crisis rages.
“Rebooting Build, Build, Build projects even during the lockdown will spearhead the recovery of our economy and mitigate the adverse effects of what the International Monetary Fund expects to be the worst global recession in almost a century since the Great Depression of the 1930s," Villafuerte said.
He is a member of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee monitoring the implementation of Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
Villafuerte says regular construction work can resume on infrastructure projects for as long as social- distancing measures and other health protocols are imposed on job sites.
On- or near-site housing for workers should be in place, and if this is not possible, point-to-point shuttle service should be made available to them.
Villafuerte also cited the need for the regular disinfection of workplaces and other hygiene measures to protect the health of workers.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is consulting experts and discussing the proposal by various quarters to resume public construction work on infrastructure projects.
The IATF-EID earlier approved the request of the Transport department to allow the resumption of utility relocation works and resume specified limited works on 13 rail projects.
The projects include the rail replacement for MRT-3, but only limited mobilization and skeletal staffing for these projects are allowed.