Fitch Solutions forecasts the construction industry to bounce back in 2021

Fitch Solutions forecasts the construction industry to rebound this year but stakeholders believe public spending needs to be accelerated for recovery to happen.

The Philippine Constructors Association (PCA) also expressed opposition to a bill seeking to open the market to foreign players.

In a statement, PCA said last year, the construction sector suffered a contraction of 9.8 percent due to lockdown measures implemented to stem the spread of the pandemic.

PCA said the industry has since seen signs of recovery with current numbers from the Philippine Statistics Authority showing 4.2 million Filipinos are employed in construction up from 3.7 million in 2020.

But PCA said Fitch Solutions’ forecast is based on expectations the Philippines will effectively contain the spread of the virus.

The government has allotted more than P1 trillion for infrastructure for 2021.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 1809 seeks to amend the Contractor’s License Law which will allow “persons, regardless of nationality or citizenship” properly licensed and registered with proper authorities to practice construction contracting in the Philippines.

The bill, if passed into law, will “effectively open the construction industry to foreign contractors without providing any further regulations,” said Wilfredo Decena, PCA president.

Decena said while other countries have taken steps to protect their local industry, some sectors are pushing for the further opening up of the local construction industry.

In a position paper submitted to Senate in response to the said bill, Decena said “the unregulated entry of foreign contractors, especially at this time when the construction industry is bleeding from the COVID-19 pandemic, will adversely affect small and medium-sized Filipino contractors and deprive Filipino workers of job opportunities in their own country.’

Instead of further opening the market up, PCA said the government should instead focus on providing opportunities and growth paths, specially for micro, small and medium contractors, including developing the talent capacity of the local workforce to help the recovery and growth of the construction sector.

Home Is Where the Heart Is, but Where Is "Home"?

"Home" means so much more than just a house. So how do we decide where home is?

Attachment to Place

It is no secret that individuals develop very strong emotional attachments to the places that they live. These affectionate bonds between people and places go by a variety of names, including “Topophilia,” “Rootedness,” and “Attachment to Place.”

A strong attachment to the place that you live results in greater satisfaction with your home and expectations of future stability in that place. These feelings transcend attachments to other people in the area and represent a genuine affection for the physical location itself, and the passage of time strengthens our attachment to the places that we live. Because our physical surroundings play such an important role in creating a sense of meaning and organization in our lives, it is not surprising that our sense of the place we live is closely tied to our sense of who we are.

In the "Wizard of Oz," Dorothy doesn't achieve closure until she recognizes that "There is no place like home." Thus, the word “home” connotes more than just a house—but how exactly do we determine where “home” is?

The Concept of Home

In 2008, The Pew Research Center conducted a survey of 2,260 American adults. Among other things, they asked participants to identify “the place in your heart you consider to be home.” Thirty-eight percent of the respondents did not identify the place that they were currently living to be “home.” Twenty-six percent reported that “home” was where they were born or raised; only 22 percent said that it was where they lived now. Eighteen percent identified home as the place that they had lived the longest, and 15 percent felt that it was where their family had come from. Four percent said that home was where they had gone to high school.

“Home” is the place where you feel in control and properly oriented in space and time; it is a predictable and secure place. In the words of poet Robert Frost, "Home is the place that, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." In short, “home” is the primary connection between you and the rest of the world.

Home for the Holidays?

The importance of returning “home for the holidays,” usually to share at least one large meal, reflects the importance of home places in maintaining the bonds between people. Such homecoming rituals affirm and renew a person’s place in the family and often are a key factor in preserving the family’s social fabric.

To the Zuni of the American Southwest, home is a living thing. It is the setting for raising children, for communicating with God and the spirit world, and for life itself. An annual ceremony in which some homes are blessed and consecrated (called the Shalako) is part of the year-ending winter solstice celebration.

Social relationships centered in the home are celebrated during the Shalako ceremony by providing food to all who visit the Shalako houses, including the symbolic feeding of the spirits of ancestors who are believed to visit during the Shalako to reestablish bonds with their families. The ceremony strengthens bonds to the community, to the family (including dead ancestors), and to the spirits and gods by strengthening the bonds between each of these parties and the home itself.

For all people, home is the center of the world and a place of order that contrasts with the chaos elsewhere. When asked to draw a picture of “where you live,” children and adolescents worldwide invariably center their drawings around the home, making it the anchor for everything else. This is especially true of females; girls also give more positive and emotional evaluations of their homes than do boys.

The Tiwi of Bathurst Island (off the coast of Northern Australia) even believed that their island was the only habitable place in the world and all other places were thought of as the “land of the dead.” The Tiwi believed that sailors shipwrecked on their island were dead spirits, and they were killed because they did not belong in the land of the living.

As you reflect upon where your home is, ask yourself why this particular place out of the many places that you may have lived stands out as the one that feels like home. By doing so, you may also gain a deeper understanding of how you think about yourself and your connection with the world at large.

Author: Frank McAndrew, Ph.D., is the Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College.

Source: psychologytoday

Social distancing in Metro Manila homes

Social distancing is the most effective way to slow the spread of the coronavirus — more so than face coverings and eye protection — according to a meta-analysis published in The Lancet.

An interesting view on the challenge of social distancing in highly populated areas like Metro Manila based on the size of the homes people live in.

source: IBON