Hiring of foreign workers in Guam to start late 2011 – POEA

The recruitment and deployment of foreign workers, including Filipinos, for the construction of US Navy facilities in the island of Guam will begin during the last quarter of 2011 and not earlier as previously reported, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). In a statement, the POEA said prospective overseas Filipino workers will have to wait another year for the project’s construction phase to commence. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier reported that the construction project – a naval hospital worth US$700 million – is set to be awarded by the end of September this year, and the construction will begin by the first quarter of 2011. According to the POEA statement, the project’s design phase will start during the first half of the 2011 as many of the construction projects are of build-and-design type, and construction activity in the island will begin during the second half. The statement said initial bids and requests for proposal had been published and would be completed by the end of November 2010. “The military buildup will need at least 10,000 workers but only 6,000 will come from outside Guam. The remaining 4,000 workers will be Guam residents and other foreign workers already in the US territory," the POEA noted. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz earlier said the construction for the military facilities would be until 2020, and projects worth about a billion US dollars should be awarded every year, requiring around 7,000 to 10,000 construction workers. "A Filipino contractor in Guam informed the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the area that easily 50 percent of the required manpower can be sourced out from the Philippines because of its workers' experience and track record of performance," she said in a previous statement. Records from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas show that as of December 2009, there are over 23,000 Filipinos in Guam, which is one of the five US territories. Of the figure, more than half are considered permanent residents, while the rest are either undocumented or temporarily staying there until the end of their employment contracts. - Jerrie M. Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV