Another worker dies at Hanjin shipyard

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – Another worker died at the Hanjin shipyard at the Subic Bay Freeport, reportedly the 27th fatality in the shipbuilding facility.

Ramon Lacbain, chairman of the People’s Task Force on Hanjin and Subic Bay Inc., said the body of Teodoro Albior, 30, a resident of Barangay Mabayuan, Olongapo City, was fished out near his worksite at around 2:20 p.m. the other day.

Lacbain, however, said Albior might have fallen into the water while working on a ship last Friday night.

“He was a worker assigned to a ship labeled No. 4 PMA CGM Lapis. His body was already rigid when (it was) fished out and he was wearing his blue overall work clothes over a red T-shirt and had his rubber shoes on,” Lacbain quoted witnesses as saying.

He said Albior worked as a grinder for a sub-contractor he identified only as a certain Zambanas.

“Our task force’s records show that as many as 27 workers of Hanjin have died since it opened over three years ago. The causes of death included accidents and malaria. Our count of accidents is more than 5,000,” he said.      

He said the Department of Labor and Employment has yet to finish its probe on work-related deaths at the shipyard.

Earlier, Sen. Pia Cayetano said Hanjin had violated at least four provisions of the Labor Code based on the Feb. 3 Senate inquiry into the increasing deaths at the shipyard.

“Only 21 of its 101 subcontractors (of Hanjin) are registered with the Department of Labor and Employment, raising the possibility that the practice of labor-only contracting is rampant,” Cayetano said after a Senate panel completed its probe. –Ding Cervantes, Philippine Star