ALU Says Keppel Management Should Cease Conditioning the Public & Stop Precluding PHl Government Investigation of the October 7 Mishap

The Associated Labor Unions today admonished the Keppel Offshore and Marine management to refrain from pre-empting the Labor department’s ongoing investigation and stop conditioning the Filipino public that last week’s incident was caused by the workers.


“We are calling on the Keppel management to stop precluding the official Philippine government’s investigation into the incident by floating key propaganda words that the incident was caused “human error.” These pronouncements (that the incident was caused by human error prior to official results of the probe) are laying the foundations towards absolving themselves (Keppel) from legal, moral, and social responsibilities for the incident,” said Gerard Seno, ALU National Vice President.


Seno added that Keppel management’s initiative to pry into the incident should be kept within them in courtesy to the official Philippine government’s on-going inquiry.


Seno’s statement was made after Keppel Subic Shipyard President and General Manager Mok Kim Whang made claims before local media that the incident was caused by human error.


The ALU is one the pioneers of unionism in the Philippines. Established by dock workers in 1954, it has since been championing the cause of the plight of the Filipino workers from across various industry sectors in various fora and burning national issues. Today, it is the biggest confederation of unions in the Philippines with 155,000 members nationwide.


The ALU called on the Labor department to conduct its probe into the Keppel shipyard incident and impose justice in a swift and transparent manner in two weeks to avoid cover-up of the incident, shield surviving victims and families from onerous out-of-court offers, and to give other companies lesson not to ignore safety standards in workplaces throughout the country. Alan A. Tanjusay, ALU Policy Advocacy Officer