Manila: Senator Pia Cayetano has asked the Senate labour committee to investigate the Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the labour department for the deaths of Filipino workers at the shipyard inside the Subic Bay Freeport since 2006.
"The Hanjin shipyard has virtually become a modern-day killing field, but has any Hanjin official been jailed or even charged in court?" Cayetano said in a statement on Friday following the deaths of Philip Mendoza and Jose Vener Gil on Nov. 20 and 26, respectively.
Pyeong Jong Yu, general manager of the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc., said in a Thursday interview that 15 workers had died from work-related accidents while two others had died in traffic-related incidents in the shipyard in Subic, Zambales.
However, Zambales Governor Amor Deloso on Friday said 63 had died from accidents at the shipyard and malaria while living near the shipyard during the construction period.
"The deaths are the aftermath of the arrogant and impervious attitude of Hanjin. It's acting like it's beyond the clutches of the law," Deloso said, referring to the company's alleged refusal to be inspected by local authorities. [1/12/08]
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