Construction workers are essential workers

MODERN high-rise buildings for office and residential use, highways, bridges, classrooms, malls and our homes are all built with the blood, sweat and tears of the Filipino construction worker. Construction work in itself is more dangerous than most other occupations. The supposedly mandatory wearing of personal protective equipment or safety gear, such as hardhats, fall protection equipment, gloves and boots, among others, is not always complied with. Another major risk factor is the sleeping quarters of these workers - often the very buildings under construction or temporary bunkhouses. In 2018, five workers were killed in Cebu City when the four-story bunkhouse put up as a sleeping area for about 160 workers collapsed in the middle of the night. Fifty-five were injured. Recently, one construction worker was killed and one injured when a portion of a construction site in Cebu City caved in.

Construction workers have been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. When construction sites were shut down, thousands of workers not only were out of job but out of a place to stay as well. Later, as restrictions were eased and delayed construction projects resumed, displaced workers who wanted to return to the cities were faced with lack of public transportation and other obstacles.