Philippine Newspapers - Philippine Asian News Today

VANCOUVER-Weeks after the deadly earthquake that struck Haiti, the Filipino Canadian Con­struction Society is offering its services in the reconstruction of the devastated country. FCCS president Renato delos Santos has sought the help of lo­cal papers to send this message across, following reports that mayors of Canada’s 22 largest cities have promised to help rebuild Haiti.

In a letter forwarded to differ­ent local papers, the FCCS stated this would be a good time to uti­lize the Filipino contractors’ skills in the engineering and construc­tion industry. Delos Santos laments, govern­ing bodies here in Canada are not recognizing the Filipino contrac­tors’ skills and he is hoping that being able to work in the rebuild­ing of Haiti will help their plight.

“Purpose is to have better rec­ognition. Yung mga members na­min are mostly having a difficult time finding jobs related to their profession since governing bod­ies like the Association of Profes­sional Engineers and Geoscien­tists of BC (APEG BC) seem not to recognize us despite the fact that immigration says they need professionals in Canada. Sad to say pagdating dito ordinary work­er ka lang,” said delos Santos.

The FCCP added it would be good to utilize Filipino contrac­tors in the reconstruction project instead of using the different cit­ies’ staff.

The Big City Mayors Caucus of Canada supported a proposal to commit municipal resources for reconstruction efforts in Haiti at a Federation of Canadian Munici­palities (FCM) meeting in Ottawa last January 21.

The FCM is prepared to send a special municipal assessment team to evaluate needs in the rebuilding of Haiti, and will sub­mit proposals for the reconstruc­tion efforts afterwards. The FCM will create a pool of experts who will work with the federal govern­ment, Haitian officials and non-government organizations to help rebuild roads and bridges, water and sewer services and other in­frastructure.

The FCM has also opened a special section of its recruitment Web site to municipalities willing to offer technical assistance in the reconstruction of Haiti.