|
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
|
