‘Filipino construction workers are truly lazy,’ special envoy Tulfo says

MANILA, Philippines— Three months after he first made the claim, columnist turned special envoy Ramon Tulfo stands by his comment that Filipino workers are lazy.

In a televised interview, Tulfo clarified that he was referring to construction workers.

“Construction workers ang sinasabi ko talagang tamad. And basically, ‘pag kinumpara natin sa dito mga Chinese workers, eight months nagawa nila, ginagawa ng Filipino ng isang taon,” he said on CNN Philippines' "The Source".

(I was referring to construction workers as lazy. And basically, if we compare them to Chinese workers, in eight months, they can finish the work that takes Filipinos a year)

Tulfo said that Filipino construction workers take work lightly while Chinese workers take breaks but go right back to work.

“E sa Pinoy, pabandying –bandying,  sigarilyo, kung saan saan.”

(But Filipinos goof around, they smoke, walk around)

“Dito sa atin ‘pag nandito tayo, ang tendency natin maging tamad (If we are here, we have the tendency to get lazy) but why is it that when we're abroad we transform into a very efficient working machine? And why is it that when we are abroad we follow traffic laws of our host country?” Tulfo asked.

He also said Filipinos even follow rules in Subic, Zambales which is a former US naval base.

'Not all Filipino workers are lazy'

Despite his remarks, Tulfo said he is not generalizing that all Filipino workers are lazy.  

“I am not taking back anything. In fact, I’m saying that truth hurts,” Tulfo said.

“’Di ko sinasabing nilalahat ko. There are maraming tamad, that's it (I’m not saying all. There are many lazy workers, that’s it) he said.

In March, Tulfo was asked about the influx of Chinese workers and he claimed that developers prefer Chinese workers because Filipino workers are “lazy”

READ: Tulfo ‘acting like China’s envoy to the Philippines,’ labor leader says

This statement drew ire from the public who said Tulfo was belittling Filipino workers. The special envoy however refused to apologize and stood by his remarks.

“To the Filipino construction workers: Why should I apologize to you for telling the truth that you’re basically lazy and a slowpoke? Does the truth hurt?” Tulfo said in a follow-up tweet that month.

In response to the columnist's claims, a group of construction workers challenged him to join them at a work site to see that Filipinos are hard workers. Tulfo does not seem to have agreed to the challenge.

"If Chinese contractors told you that Filipino workers are inefficent and are slowpokes, why didn't you verify it? Why didn't you even defend your fellow Filipinos from these foreign Chinese contractors," construction workers representing workers in the Construction Industry Tripartite Council said.

"You didn't even check that even the Chinese construction workers we have worked with, as well as other foreign workers are also slow workers because of the high stress and hard work in the heat, cold and harsh conditions at work sites," they also said.

The workers said critical infrastructure like bridges, hospitals, airports, depots, schools, malls, seaports, bridges, and roads would not have been build if not for laborers that Tulfo labelled lazy.

They said countless homes, including those of Tulfo and his family would also not have been built if not for construction workers.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he is in favor of letting the Chinese work in the country. Duterte disapproved of deporting Chinese laborers, saying many Filipinos also work in China.