Saturday, August 16, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
BALANGA City, Bataan: This province and the United States Island Territory of Guam will soon enter into a sisterhood pact that will benefit hundreds of construction workers from Bataan, Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia 3rd of Balanga City said Friday.
The mayor said Guam Lieutenant-Governor Michael Cruz (equivalent to vice-governor) would be visiting the province within this year to finalize the agreement and see for himself the beauty of the historic peninsula.
Garcia said the Island Territory would soon have a migration of 8,000 US servicemen who will move from Okinawa, Japan from 2009 to 2014 that will cause a construction boom to entail $15 billion in costs.
“Guam needs at least 20,000 skilled Filipino workers, mostly construction workers from Bataan with US standard salary of $6 to $7 per hour,” the Balanga City mayor said.
He said that aside from construction, they are looking into the possibility of supplying Guam with agriculture products like pineapple. “Maliit na pinya doon eh $7 na [The small pineapples there are worth $7 now],” he said.
“We were informed that they also need school teachers receiving $35,000 a month more or less,” Garcia said.
The mayor and his father, Governor Enrique Garcia, were in Guam recently as guests of the Bataan Association of Guam that celebrated its 11th year. Arsenio Santiago of Samal, Bataan is president of the association.
The Island Territory is only three hours by plane from Manila at a one-way fare of $300 per person.
Garcia said the main market of Guam is Japanese tourists and soon to be augmented by more than 24,000 dependents of 8,000 American servicemen.
He said they have promoted bird-watching as one of the exotic tourist attractions for visitors. Balanga City was recently included in the first volume of the Birdwatching Guidebook of the Department of Tourism. --Ernie B. Esconde
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