FIFTEEN thousand skilled Filipino workers, among them from Baguio, will be recruited to help build a unified United States military installation in Guam starting next year.

Three mayors and another executive from Guam, who were here for Baguio’s centennial anniversary and the Sister-Cities Summit, announced the news during a business encounter Tuesday afternoon with the local chamber of commerce headed by Johnny dela Cruz at the Baguio Country Club.

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Mayor Frank Blas of Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon, with which Baguio forged ties, said the Filipino workers’ experience and skill in construction work, aside from their facility with the English language, weighed heavily on the choice of the Philippines as recruitment base.

The military facility project will be developed in time for the a transfer of US Marines based in Okinawa, according to Angel Sablan, executive director of the Guam Mayors Council.

He added that the US is also looking at Asia for the supplies needed for the project, saying the plan is to ship these to Saipan for stocking.

This also means, he said, the construction of schools, medical and other facilities for the families of soldiers who will be assigned to the base.

Mayor Vicente Gumataotao of Piti said the project costing US$15 billion will house servicemen under the US Marines, Air Force and Navy.

The Guam executives, including Hagatna (Agana) Mayor John Cruz, announced that employment will be done through accredited recruitment agencies in the Philippines.

City councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda, co-chairperson of the Baguio’s sister-city committee, said the recruitment program was initially announced earlier this year when she and other city officials visited Guam for a meeting on the sister-city program.

“This good news is one of the benefits that come with our forging ties with other local government units in our country and abroad,” she said.