BusinessMirror, March 19, 2020
Elijah Felice Rosales
Semiconductor firms will house their workers for the duration of the lockdown inside economic zones in compliance with President Duterte’s directive to provide them temporary shelter under the Luzon-wide community quarantine.
Danilo C. Lachica, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi), said member firms experienced glitches at checkpoints that resulted in their workers getting turned back to their homes. As such, he said semiconductor firms will begin housing their manpower within economic zones and, if approved, inside factories.
“Semiconductor companies will comply with the [order], but several glitches have occurred at the checkpoints which inadvertently turned back employee shuttles despite the March 18 start [of lockdown protocols] for exporters,” Lachica told the BusinessMirror.
“We are also trying to address the issue with transporting and housing skeletal workers. Each company is identifying sites, which may include partly in-house, inside industrial park and, if government approves, around the factory,” he added.
The Seipi resolves the issue of housing through its coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry, Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Workers for exporting firms are allowed to go to work under the President’s policy of enhanced community quarantine in the whole of Luzon. However, employers are instructed to find them temporary shelter near their workplace to avoid running into complications in checkpoints.
Electronic parts, particularly semiconductors, are the country’s top export item, accounting for over 50 percent of what the Philippines is shipping to its trading partners.
In January exports grew 9.67 percent to $5.78 billion, from $5.27 billion during the same month last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Shipments of electronics items went up nearly 16 percent to $3.23 billion, from $2.79 billion.
On the other hand, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Senior Advisor John D. Forbes admitted members are reeling from the trimmed business activity caused by the virtual lockdown across the island.
“US firms are impacted by reduced work activities and concerns for the health of employees. Export BPO [business-process outsourcing] and electronic firms are following a mixture of work from home and trying to maintain operations at work sites where employees can work and live while following social-distancing protocols,” Forbes told the BusinessMirror.
“There have been some problems at checkpoints in clearing goods and employees, but these should be worked out as guidance flows down to the enforcing officers,” he added.
Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/03/19/semiconductors-to-house-workers-during-lockdown/