Pinoy Construction Workers Photos

[Phoebe Sibilio]

Iam the eldest in the family and when I was in college, my father lost his job. From being a homemaker, my mother became a fish vendor to help support our family. To be able to complete my studies I also worked as a domestic worker for three years, convinced that education would be the best foundation for my future.

At first, I thought I would work in a factory in an export processing zone and operate small machines. I was surprised by all the big, heavy construction equipment around me. Imagine it, I am less than 150cm tall, and was being trained to operate various heavy equipment like backhoe-loaders, hydraulic excavators, bulldozers and payloaders.

After the training I was hired as a regular employee and put on different projects. But to gain respect in this male-dominated industry, I have had to constantly prove myself, my worth and my skills.

Once, while operating an excavator, I accidentally cut the power supply of the entire road. Another time, I almost tipped over the equipment onto a stockpile of hazardous waste. My failures, struggles and challenges became my foundation to grow in my career in the construction industry.

From operating heavy equipment such as skid loaders, hydraulic excavators and forklifts, I shifted to welding. I also received a technical vocational education and training (TVET) qualification, with national certificates in carpentry, painting, scaffold assembly, installation of reinforced steel bars, flux-cored arc welding and shielded metal arc welding.

As a supervisor, I am now leading seven teams with over 250 workers. I am also helping others as a trainer and assessor, including in shielded metal arc welding. I also train people in forklift operations and hydraulic excavators.

I recently trained and inspired almost a hundred trainees in the International Labour Organization's Skills for Prosperity Programme, with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Cebu Contractors Association, Inc. (CCA). Some of them are now working in our company.

The advice that I share with young people is that every day is an opportunity to learn. The only constant in the world is change itself. If you do not engage in lifelong learning, you will be left behind and unable to adapt to an ever-changing future of work. You must compete with yourself, from the old you to the new you.

Strike the iron rod while it is hot. Grab the opportunity while it is there and shape yourself to it. When an iron rod reaches its melting point, a blacksmith can shape it to whatever he wants it to be. A split-second decision can change your entire future with the opportunity opened to you.

And lastly, focus on your goal, do not mind your critics. Instead see the positive side of that criticism and apply it to improve yourself. Start respecting yourself if you want people to respect you. Open yourself up to learning and have the will to succeed.

POSITIVELY FILIPINO is the premier digital native magazine celebrating the story of Filipinos in the diaspora. POSITIVELY FILIPINO online magazine chronicles the experiences of the global Filipino in all its complexity, covering the arts, culture, politics, media, sports, economics, history and social justice. Based in San Francisco, California, POSITIVELY FILIPINO magazine is your window on the Filipino diaspora.

POSITIVELY FILIPINO is the premier digital native magazine celebrating the story of the global Filipino. The POSITIVELY FILIPINO online magazine chronicles the experiences of the global Filipino in all its complexity, providing analysis and discussion about the arts, culture, politics, media, sports, economics, history and social justice.

All dressed up for a night out after Saturday evening Mass (left to right), Angie Tamesis who has been in Israel for eight years, Chona Lubi for 10 years and Lyn Gutierrez for 14 years. The three are caregivers. (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)

Former San Francisco top litigator, Rod McLeod (center) with Teddy and Jeanine de Rivera, organizers of our pilgrimage. Rod is retired and has been living in Israel for the past six years with his wife, Naomi. (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)

Retired nurses enjoying Petra: Delia de la Rama (left) from New York was a UP instructor who hails from La Union. Helen Pablo from Pensacola, Florida is a UST graduate from Zambales. (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)

Vanessa Mentar has been working at Movenpick Hotel in Petra, Jordan for the past eight years. She hails from Bataan. She says most Filipinos in Jordan are employed in the hotels and as caregivers. (Photo by Aimee Fuentes)

Caregivers on their Friday day-off at the Citadel in Amman, Jordan (left to right): Rowena Costin hails from Tacloban and has been in Amman for seven years; Frenie Espino, from Pangasinan has been a housekeeper for 11 years; Zenaida Onio is from Nueva Ecija and has been in Jordan for 15 years; Lourdes Buensalida, 13 years in Jordan, is from Bicol. They say their employers are all very nice and kind. They also say that there are many Filipino construction workers and miners in Jordan. They offered to share their food with me: hipon sa gata at piniritong isda (shrimp in coconut milk and fried fish). This was so tempting after eating hummus every day! (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)

Filipinos from Dubai on vacation in Amman, Jordan (left to right): Neil Aligonza from Capiz; Dinopaulo Bulaong from Bulacan; Eleanor Franceliso from Laguna. All three work as travel consultants in Dubai. They say the Filipinos in Dubai make up the second largest foreign worker population, next to East Indians. (Photo by Mona Lisa Yuchengco)

After 11 days (eight in Israel and three in Jordan), my feet were tired and bruised. Our flight from Amman to Frankfurt was leaving at 2:30 a.m., an ungodly hour, for the five-hour flight to Frankfurt. We would have four hours waiting time in Frankfurt for another 12 hours to San Francisco. So tired and sleepy. I did hear Tagalog and Visayan spoken at the Frankfurt airport, but my body no longer had the energy to stop, talk to people and take their photos.

Filipino workers particularly in the construction sector are in demand in Guam, an island territory of the United States of America (USA), the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Los Angeles (LA), California said on Friday, Aug. 13.

The Manila Film Center is a building located at the southwest end of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay, Philippines. The structure was designed by architect Froilan Hong where its edifice is supported on more than nine hundred piles[1] which reaches to the bed-rock about 120 feet below.

Prior to the Manila Film Center, the Philippines did not have an official national film archive which is why in January 1981, then first lady Imelda Marcos spearheaded the building of the first Manila Center. Under the supervision of Betty Benitez, the spouse of then Deputy MHS Minister Jose Conrado Benitez, they organized a group to pursue the project. Ramon M. Ignacio, Senior Technology Officer at the Technology Resource Center, conceptualized the project and its various components. He likewise prepared the feasibility study.[7]

Among the Film Center's project components were: the 360-degree theater to show past and present historical and tourism scenes for future generations, the Film Financing/Loan Program to address funding of meritable films, the Filipino Film Archiving using Digital Storage (though was little known during those times), Film Database/Information system, Film Making and Blow Up Laboratory, Viewing rooms for the Board of Censors and other minor sub-components. Despite the futuristic and concept creativity of Ignacio, only two of the project components were actually done. UNESCO's[7] assistance was invaluable in the design of the archives, so they were asked to be consultants of the project.

Several ocular visits were done by Unesco in 1981 where they were responsible for major consultations needed in the structure's erection. The building was then designed to have two components[7] which were the auditoria and archives. According to Hong, the foundation was set on reclaimed[8] land near Manila Bay. Since the deadline of the structure was tight, it required 4,000 workers, working in 3 shifts across 24 hours. One thousand workers constructed the lobby[9] in 72 hours, a job which would normally entail six weeks of labor. The Film Center opened in 1982 costing an estimate of $25 million.

An accident occurred around 3:00 a.m. on November 17, 1981, during the construction of the Manila Film Center.[10] The scaffolding[13] collapsed,[14][15] and at least 169[3][16][17] workers fell and were buried under quick-drying wet cement.[18] A blanket of security was immediately imposed by the Marcos dictatorship. Neither rescuers nor ambulances were permitted[9] on the site until an official statement had been prepared. The rescuers were eventually permitted to go inside the accident site nine hours after the collapse.

According to former CCP president Baltazar N. Endriga, architect Froilan Hong said that only seven died in the accident and that all of them "were retrieved and given the proper rites befitting the dead."[19]

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