Sen. Estrada, TUCP raise suspicions on Keppel Subic’s safety record

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, in a privilege speech on Monday, revealed that the Keppel Subic Shipyard did not have a good track record when it comes to on-site accidents.

Estrada claimed in his speech “one accident occurs quarterly” at the Keppel Subic shipyard. “It has come to light that victims of on-site injuries have been regular visitors to Subic’s Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital — an average of one every three months,” he said.

In addition to the “quarterly accidents,” Estrada said that there were reports of a worker falling to his death from scaffolding, and two oil tanker explosions, one of which supposedly claimed the lives of five people in 2003.

Keppel Philippines Marine Inc., owner and operator of Keppel Subic, is mum on the issue.

Roderick Tan, Keppel Subic’s financial controller and administration department manager, said in a telephone interview with GMA News Online that Keppel Subic
has yet to make a statement on Estrada’s speech and on previous accidents in the shipyard.

Friday morning, at least six workers died while several others were injured when a 42-ton ramp collapsed at a ship repair facility at Keppel Subic’s shipyard in the Subic Shipyard-special Economic zone in Cabangan Point, about 137 kilometers northwest of Manila. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/234620/regions/five-killed-in-subic-shipyard-accident

Estrada chairs the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development and the congressional oversight committee on labor and employment.

‘No-nonsense, take-no-prisoners’ probe

The senator also urged his colleagues to find someone liable for the accident, pointing out that days after the accident, “determining the exact liability of the Subic shipyard management… is still at a standstill.”

The Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP) also urged Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to investigate a “no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners” investigation into the accident.

“This is an opportunity for the labor secretary to squarely place her interests fully in line with those of the workers whose interests she is supposed to represent in the first place. The Secretary has behaved as an apologist for the short-comings of both local and foreign employers, using the camouflage of job-creation,” TUCP Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza said.

Medoza will file a House Resolution to launch an investigation on the matter.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has formed a high-level team, headed by Undersecretary for Labor Standards and Social Protection Lourdes Trasmonte, to look into the incident.

Keppel management earlier said it will shoulder the hospitalization and medical expenses of those injured from the accident, according to Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

Need for corrective measures

In a separate statement Wednesday, the TUCP also raised concerns over safety standards in the shipyard, saying that Keppel management may have covered up previous accidents.

Mendoza said that Keppel management had confiscated the cellphones and cameras of members that recorded the events in the shipyard after the accident.

“DOLE should prevent management from cleaning up the accident scene and from silencing its workers to thereby exculpate management from any blame or responsibility,” he said.

Estrada also dismissed the shipyard management’s excuse that accidents were natural in industrial worksites, calling this notion “unacceptable.”

“Hindi dapat payagang manaig ang katigasan ng ulo ng may-ari ng shipyard sa pagsabi na natural lang daw ang ganoong aksidente,” he said.

“Accidents happen, but they do have a way of happening again, and again, if fault or negligence is not determined as soon as possible so that corrective measures may be undertaken just as quickly,” he added. — VS, GMA News