More than 16,000 jobs offered at Build, Build, Build caravan

Despite heavy rains and floods, the Build Build Build job caravan of the Duterte administration pushed through at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on Sunday.

Hundreds of applicants lined up for the 16,843 job vacancies in the construction sector.

Build Build Build Job Fair at the SMX Convention Center pushes through despite the bad weather. More than 16,000 jobs available. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/XFpfpgYPS5

— Victoria Tulad (@victoriatulad) August 12, 2018

One of them was Felixberto Olasiman, a returning Overseas Filipino Worker who traveled six hours from Sta. Elena, Camarines Norte. Olasiman said he did not want to go back to the Middle East.

Sixty-three-year-old Samuel Magada also tried his luck. “Lalo na ngayon na medyo mataas ang mga bilihin, hindi puwedeng umasa lang tayo sa mga anak,” he said.

Cabinet officials present at the caravan were DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno, DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez III,  DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, and BCDA President and CEO Vivencio Dizon.

At the press conference, the officials said they expected to generate 1.2 million to 2 million contractual and regular jobs through the Build Build Build Program.

“Habang ipinapatayo ho o ginagawa iyong imprastraktura, kailangan ho natin diyan iyong engineer, iyong mga pahinante, iyong mga karpintero, iyong mga mason. ‘Yan ho is project based,” said Tugade. “Kapag natapos iyong tren, siyempre ho mag-ooperate iyong tren. Iyong empleyo na ma-ge-generate diyan, regular ho yun.”

The secretaries also hoped to allay fears that projects would not be fully funded given the delay in approval of the 2019 budget.

The House of Representatives on Saturday suspended budget deliberations in opposition to the proposed cash-based budgeting. Under this, projects will only be funded if agencies can assure their completion within 2019. In the current obligations-based budgeting, agencies have two years to finish their projects.

Villar said the criticisms of the new system of budgeting is merely part of the process.

Diokno, on the other hand, said, “Pinag-aaralan namin lahat ng options. Including reenacted budget ng 2018. Dahil marami pang mga proyekto ng 2017 and 2018 na hindi pa nagagawa, kapag in-add mo ‘yun sa 2019, napakalaki pa rin ng budget.” — BM, GMA News