Clark eyes bubble housing for workers amid Covid-19 pandemic

By Marna Dagumboy Del Rosario, Manila Bulletin, 20 Aug 2020

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – Workers in manufacturing industries within this Freeport zone will be housed in areas accessible here to ensure continuity of factory operations and avoid eventual shutdown due to health crisis and work stoppage.

Clark Development Corporation (CDC) president and CEO Noel Manankil, in a meeting on Wednesday with top executives of Westchester Realty and Development Corporation and Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund, said the CDC is exploring the proposal of locators to provide bubble housing for workers at Xevera in Mabalacat City, considering its proximity and accessibility.

“This will ensure continuity of operations and preserve jobs for thousands of workers,” Manankil said.

He said the concept is point-to-point, from housing to workplace, where the employees’ health is safeguarded, thus disruption of work is prevented.

“With the idea of bubble housing, manufacturers can guarantee no disruption in their production thus, employees are kept safe from the virus,” he said.

Manankil said the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) lockdown extremely affected the manufacturing industries at Clark due to work stoppage.

“We’ve seen this problem during the ECQ. Manufacturing industries have been allowed to operate provided they have to house their employees to avoid being contracted with Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). That made a lot of sense to our locators in Clark,” he said.

He also said that the state-run corporation, during the ECQ, saw the difficulty of manufacturing companies to meet the demands for their products, as they only operated on a skeletal force.

Westchester Realty and Development Corporation chairman Rod Valencia said that thousands of housing units are available and ready-for-occupancy at Xevera, which is separated from Clark only by a perimeter fence.

At least two Korean-owned industries, Manankil said, have requested for bubble housing to accommodate their workers and guarantee their health conditions.

Valencia said Westchester is preparing 300 units for Korean locators to house their 1,250 employees at the bubble house area.

During their meeting with the Korean locators, Westchester has offered them exclusive control for the safety of their employees.

“In this way, they are more safer and healthy. These companies are very much concerned with continuity of operations,” said Manakil, adding that similar proposals for workers’ housing from other industries in the manufacturing sector are being studied by CDC.

Clark has more than 1,200 locators with more than 80,000 workers and most of which are into manufacturing.

Valencia found Xevera Mabalacat as an ideal housing area for Clark workers, citing its affordability.

“An interested buyer has to pay an initial PHP58,000 for a unit ready-for-occupancy, or after a loan with the Pag-IBIG is approved.

“Very critical is affordability, our cost is very low. One unit costs only PHP1.1 million, downpayment is 5 percent of the housing unit cost,” Valencia told reporters.

He said a total of 5,000 housing units are available at the Xevera Mabalacat to cover part of the housing requirement for Clark workers.

“The place and prices are very attractive,” he said.

Adapting a township approach, Valencia said Xevera-Mabalacat is complete with all amenities and other essential facilities such as health, education, sports and recreation, shopping center and church.

“Everything is here. You live, work, play and pray,” Valencia said.

Likewise, he said that returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) residing in Xevera Mabalacat and who have lost their jobs abroad have all the opportunity to find a new job at Clark. (PNA)