Laguna town gets major manpower deal with Guam

MANILA, Philippines - San Pedro, Laguna is seen to become the next boom city in the Southern Tagalog area due to the employment opportunity in Guam’s US Naval Base that Mayor Calixto Cataquiz opened for his constituents that would give them strong spending power.

Through the “sister city agreement” he signed with the eight mayors of Guam, Cataquiz said San Pedro, Laguna will surely be placed on the spotlight as the biggest supplier of overseas manpower resources in the Philippines.

The eight mayors of Guam unanimously decided to tap the human resources of San Pedro, Laguna in the construction of the US Naval Base to house the military units presently stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

The new facility, reportedly the biggest naval facility in the world, will require around 30,000 Filipino construction workers.

“This will make us the biggest supplier of domestic and international manpower resources in Asia. Ultimately, this will redound to the economic development in San Pedro,” Cataquiz emphasized.

To lay down the foundation for the projected growth of San Pedro, Cataquiz vowed to pursue and see to fruition his previous projects and those he has lined up for his current term.

Cataquiz said he is sending scholars to universities to ensure that availability of quality labor pool in the area. He has already sent 1,200 scholars to his locally run Polytechnic University of the Philippines aside from the two public hospitals he built for his townmates. A two-time president of the League of Mayors of Laguna, Cataquiz has also put up a sports complex for the youth.

He belied a recent report of a television program which showed minors allegedly engaged in prostitution in his municipality while he admits that the Juvenile Justice Welfare Law or RA 9344 has hampered the campaign against Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL).

The mayor has ordered a concerted campaign among local government agencies including the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), TESDA and the Philippine National Police, to push to realization his projects for the youth.

A former general manager of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), he said his administration has put up the Manpower Training Institute duly accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), where his constituents, especially the youths train to develop and enhance their technical skills in welding, hotel and restaurant management, and caregiving.