Workers slam Keppel suspension lifting

“While workers and Filipinos are busy honoring the dead, the Labor department has announced another insult to the six workers who died in Keppel’s Subic shipyard and those who are still mourning their deaths.”


This was labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno’s statement today as it condemned the Department of Labor and Employment for lifting, last Oct. 24, the suspension order on the Keppel Subic Shipyard Inc. management over the Oct. 7 incident which killed six workers and injured six others.


“In the first place, the cease and desist order (CDO) is too mild a slap on the wrist of the Keppel management for its criminal neglect which resulted in the deaths and injuries of workers. We truly believe that somebody should face trial and go to jail for what happened,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.


“We are further revolted by the immediate lifting of the CDO, the hush-hush manner by which it was done, and its belated announcement. We cannot help but think that the Aquino government is in cahoots with the Keppel management,” he added.


KMU said Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz identified various weaknesses in Keppel’s Subic shipyard but refused to recognize these as criminal violations of labor standards.


“Why was the supporting tower only one and way lighter than the stern ramp it was supposed to support? Why was there no safety practitioners in the workplace at that time? Everyone knows by now that Keppel was rushing the repairs of the ship in time for a deadline,” Labog said.


Baldoz announced the CDO’s lifting after Keppel president and general manager Mok Kim Whang and other company officials paid a visit to her at the DOLE main office.


“We dare ask the DOLE leadership and the Aquino government: By how much? By how much were you paid to clean Keppel’s name and pile insult after another over the dead workers of Keppel and those who love them?” Labog asked.


“The Aquino government is encouraging capitalists to reduce costs entailed by upholding workers’ health and safety in the workplace. Capitalists, after all, can just pay the government a meager amount to clean their names even when there are workers who died and were injured,” he said. Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU Chairperson