Hustisya para sa mga manggagawang biktima ng pagguho ng gusali

 

Photo from Bureau of Fire Protection Central Luzon

Kinokondena ng Partido Manggagawa sa Central Luzon ang naganap na trahedya ng pagguho ng itinatayong gusali sa bahagi sa Pampanga kung saan dalawa na ang kumpirmadong patay.

 

Ayon sa huling mga ulat, 26 pa lamang sa mahigit 40 katao na pinaniniwalang na-trap sa gumuhong gusali ang na-rescue. 

 

“Malinaw na may pananagutan dito ang may-ari, kontraktor, DOLE, at maging ang lokal na pamahalaan, dahil ito ay malinaw na kapalpakan, bukod sa kapabayaan sa occupational health and safety (OSH) standard na dapat pinaiiral sa lahat ng workplace, lalo na sa construction sites,” pahayag ni Ver Estorosas, tagapangulo ng Partido Manggagawa sa Bulacan. 

 

Pangunahin aniyang layunin ng OSH law na pigilan ang workplace accidents sa manggagawa kaya nangangahulugan ito ng regular na inspeksyon lalo na mga construction sites.

 

Dapat magkatulong ang DOLE at LGUs sa enforcement ng OSHS standards sa kanilang nasasakupan dahil ang aksidente ay palaging risko sa construction sites. 

 

“Pero kung parehong natutulog sa pansitan, ang kapahamakan ng manggagawa ay palaging naisusugal,” dagdag pa ni Estorosas.

 

Nananawagan din ang PM sa mabilisang imbestigasyon sa naging sanhi ng aksidente, gayundin sa agarang medikasyon at kompensasyon para sa mga biktima. 

 

Nangangamba rin ang grupo na kung walang SSS coverage ang construction workers dito, na siyang kalakaran sa industriya, hindi sila masasaklaw ng benepisyo ng Workmen’s Compensation Act. 

 

“Ang kawalan ng SSS at iba pang benipisyo ng manggagawa sa konstruksyon ay dagdag na pananagutan sa batas ng mga employer,” diin ni Estorosas.

PRESS STATEMENT

Partido Manggagawa-Bulacan

25 May 2026

Group calls for safety committees in the wake of BPO violations during Cebu earthquake

 

Photo by Lokal Cebuano

A group of call center workers demanded that safety committees be immediately formed in all BPO companies with worker members to be elected in the wake of occupational safety and health violations by companies during the recnt earthquake. “Workers must have voice and participation in the workplace, especially with regard to safety and health concerns. This will save workers’ lives,” Gilbert Romo, spokesperson for the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW), asserted.

 

The Republic Act No. 11058 or Occupational Safety and Health Law  mandates the establishment of safety committees with employee representatives. The same law stipulates fines of up to P100,000 for OSH violations. “These are two ways to ensure that this hazardous behavior does not happen again,” Romo added.

 

Thus, ICCAW is calling on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to levy fines on BPO companies which put employee lives at risk during the earthquake. Romo stated that the majority of BPOs at the Cebu IT Park and Cebu Business Park did not allow their employees to leave the premises at the height of the earthquake or called them back to work after just a couple of hours despite the risk of aftershocks. Some BPO employees resigned on the spot out of fear for their lives. “Call centers put profit above people’s lives and safety. This is unacceptable. We call on the DOLE for urgent action on this blatant violation of the OSH Law,” Romo said.

 

ICCAW called on fellow BPO workers to come forward with testimonies of the unsafe actions of the management of call centers amid the earthquake. “BPO workers are not immortal. We are humans. Similar to how BPOs ask employees to go to work despite heavy rains and widespread flooding, these companies prioritized smooth running of operations over the welfare of their employees. Working in the graveyard shift—which is common in BPOs—is already a health risk but keeping employees at work during an earthquake is too much. Hanapbuhay ang kailangan naming manggagawa, hindi hanappatay,” Romo insisted.  

  

ICCAW is an industry-wide group of BPO employees that was founded in 2013 in Cebu in solidarity with workers of a call center that abruptly shut down. It currently has members in different call centers in the Cebu IT Park. In 2014 it came out with an 8-point agenda of pro-labor reforms in the BPO industry. These include tax breaks, bond to indemnify workers in case of closure, quick reaction teams in case of sudden shutdown, hospitalization insurance, above minimum salary, regular labor inspections, elected workers representatives in a grievance machinery, and regularization of employees.

Press Release

October 7, 2025

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers

Council Resolution filed for local probe on Armscor explosion

 

Photo from TV5

A city council resolution to conduct an inquiry was filed by Marikina City Councilor, Renato Magtubo, following a deadly explosion that occurred yesterday at the Armscor Global Defense Manufacturing facility in Marikina, resulting in the death of two workers and other reported injuries.

 

In his resolution, which is scheduled to pass first reading today, Magtubo is asking the City Council to direct several committees, including the peace and order, public safety and security, and labor and capital relations, to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation to ascertain the cause of the explosion as well as the level of accountability the company is liable to - for workers and the community.

 

Magtubo, who is also the chairperson of Partido Manggagawa (PM), noted that this was the second time that fire and explosion occurred at the same facility. “On February 29, 2024, a fire also occurred at the same facility, causing significant damage and injuring four people,” stated Magtubo.

 

“Huwag din nating kalimutan ang nangyari sa Kentex dahil habang nauulit ang mga ganito, makikita na hindi tayo nagbabago,” he added.

 

The resolution demands thereafter the submission of the Inquiry Report to the City Council with findings and recommendations, including:

 

1.           Amendments to existing ordinances on industrial safety, the handling of hazardous materials, and emergency response;

2.           Policy recommendations to national agencies for stricter enforcement of safety regulations, and;

3.           Measures to enhance corporate accountability and community protection.

 

Earlier, the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition also called on concerned government agencies to conduct the same inquiry, saying the recurrence of such deadly workplace accidents is unacceptable.

PRESS RELEASE

Partido Manggagawa

Renato Magtubo

National Chairperson

City Councilor, Marikina City 

Reforms demanded in wake of deadly QC factory fire

Photo from Inquirer.net

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called for stronger labor enforcement and labor inspection in response to the deadly industrial fire at a small garment factory in Quezon City. The fire in the early morning of Thursday last week at MGC Wearhouse Inc. killed 15 people, 12 of whom were stay-in workers.

 

"Heads must roll and justice must be served for the needless deaths and injuries to workers,” insisted Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

 

PM lambasted employers for cutting corners in occupational safety in order to raise profits and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the lax implementation of labor and safety standards. The deaths of MGC workers recall the Kentex factory fire which killed 74 people, the country’s worst industrial tragedy. Further, over the years workers have also been killed or injured in several construction sites amidst the current real estate boom.

 

“While capitalists were scrimping on protection for workers and DOLE was sleeping on its job of enforcement, workers are dying in the workplace,” Magtubo elaborated.

 

He averred that “Accidents are not acts of divine providence that can be dismissed as unavoidable. Instead, accidents are the result of unsafe acts and therefore preventable by strict enforcement of occupational safety and health and labor standards.”

 

“We propose that the DOLE deputize labor leaders as labor inspectors. In so doing the number of inspectors and inspections can be increased several fold overnight, enforcement can be strengthened immediately, and workers' lives and limbs can be saved,” Magtubo recommended.

 

He noted that the DOLE’s “Labor Laws Compliance System” (LLCS) inaugurated in 2013 and the hike in the number of labor inspectors to almost 600 is still not working. An audit by the International Labor Organization in 2009 revealed that with only 193 labor inspectors to inspect 784,000 companies, an establishment gets inspected only once every 16 years.

 

“A big loophole in the so-called LLCS is the focus on ‘voluntary compliance’ and ‘self-assessment’ by employers. Voluntary compliance and self-assessment mean that the government is asking the wolf to guard the sheep. No wonder the sheep gets slaughtered,” Magtubo criticized.

 

He added that “The DOLE has again been caught sleeping on the job. DOLE must check firms for compliance not just with safety regulations but labor standards such as payment of minimum wages and benefits, observance of working hours and remittance of social security among others. Non-unionized workers are among the most overworked yet underpaid since they do not have the protection of an organization.”

Press Release

September 4, 2023

BPO workers group propose options to RTO

 

With two days to go before the April 8 deadline by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for BPO companies to apply for exemption from the Return-To-Office (RTO) order, an industry workers group proposed several alternatives to full on-site work. The Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) called on the Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to convene a social dialogue so that the options they are presenting can be discussed.

 

“BPO workers are appealing to the government that our voices be heard and that we be given a seat at the table since this concerns the safety and well-being of employees. BPO workers are the ones who will get sick in case of infections, will endure hours in traffic even as public transportation remains broken, and will have their lives disrupted as they relocate back to cities and business districts from the provinces,” stated Bryan Nadua, ICCAW spokesperson and works in a BPO in Metro Manila.

 

ICCAW also expressed its support for the groups BPO Employees for Leni and Kiko and the Coalition of IT-BPO for Leni-Kiko which are having a press conference tomorrow to air their grievances over the implementation of the RTO. The RTO order took effect last Friday, April 1, as the Department of Finance and the Fiscal Incentives Review Board insisted that BPOs as economic zones must be “exclusively conducted or operated within the geographical boundaries of the zone or freeport.” In a press conference attended by several BPO workers last March 27, ICCAW called the RTO an “April Fools’ prank on BPO workers.”

 

ICCAW is proposing the following alternatives to the RTO or full on-site work:

 

1. Hybrid setup where workers are 3 days on-site (workplace) and 2 days off-site (home)

2. 50/50 ratio: 50% of the workforce are on-site and 50% are working from home

3. Compressed work week: 4 days on-site on 11 hours shift (which includes 1-hour lunch and three 15-minute breaks)

4. Conversion of existing benefits like internet or electric allowance to transportation allowance once workers go on-site

5. 70/30 ratio as proposed by PEZA but the 70% of the workforce should be on hybrid set-up (3 days on-site at 2 days off-site)

 

Nadua emphasized that “Dialogue is key and workers participation is imperative. At the national level, BPO workers seek a meeting with Secretary Bello. At the sectoral level, the IT-BPO industry tripartite council must table options presented by workers. And at the firm level, management must hear the concerns of employees and their representatives.”

 

The Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) is a DOLE-registered workers’ association that was formed in 2012 out of the struggle of 667 employees of a call center in Cebu City which unceremoniously closed down. ICCAW has core groups in Metro Manila, Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo. ICCAW FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Inter-Call-Center-Association-of-Workers-ICCAW-649423938410656

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers

April 6, 2022

BPO workers call on Labor Secretary Bello to intervene in Return-To-Office order

With days to go to before the April 1 deadline for some 1.4 million IT and BPO employees to return to their offices as per an order from the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) of the Department of Finance (DoF), the group Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) called on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to intervene as no consultation was done to get the voice and participation of workers affected.

 

“The RTO is a recipe for disaster. It is an ‘April Fools’ prank’ that endangers occupational safety and health, and work-life balance,” stated Bryan Nadua of ICCAW and a BPO employee in Pasig. The FIRB cited the CREATE Law that provides that BPO as economic zones must “exclusively conducted or operated within the geographical boundaries of the zone or freeport.”

 

Yesterday, Nadua along with other BPO employees Charmaine Doble and KR Raposas held a press conference to emphasize the urgency of the matter. The concerned BPO workers also expressed support for the Change.org petition of the groups BPO Employees for Leni-Kiko and IT&BPO Professionals for Leni and Kiko opposing the return to office order

 

Nadua insisted that “Dapat balik trabahong ligtas para sa BPO workers. Mandating the return to office of 1.4 million IT and BPO workers on the sole basis of economic and tax reasons disregards the issue of health and safety of employees.”

 

“Even before the pandemic, if one BPO employee gets a cough or cold, in a day or two, someone else will show similar symptoms due to infection. Headsets too are sometimes shared among employees and are another way by which COVID-19 might be easily transmitted in a 100% fully operational scenario,” averred Jodie Villanueva, a former Customer Service Representative before becoming an HR Manager in a BPO in one of her previous engagements. Villanue represented the women’s committee of Partido Manggagawa in the presscon yesterday.

 

According to the concerned BPO workers, alternatives to a full RTO by April 1 can be considered such as 50 to 75% of BPO workers returning to the office and implementing a compressed work week while maintaining the work from home or anywhere for the rest of the week.

 

The FB livestream of the presscon can be publicly accessed at https://fb.watch/b-DGOQoOZ8/ [note: there was no audio at the start of the video due to technical issues but the audio returns around 2:12].

 

BPO workers shout out against RTO: https://www.facebook.com/649423938410656/videos/362895729061725/

March 28, 2022

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers

 

Group calls for OSH safeguards and free testing of workers

 

In the face of the rapid increase in COVID-19 infections, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) reiterated the call for free testing of workers who are mandated to work onsite. The group also called on employees, employers and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to ensure that safety committees are operating in workplaces, health protocols are being followed and occupational safety and health (OSH) standards are being enforced.

 

“A lot of factories and workplaces are operating and numerous workers are reporting onsite under the Alert Level 3 protocol. Thus, the necessity of ensuring workplace safety. Workers should assert that OSH regulations are implemented. Hanapbuhay ito hindi hanap patay,” Rene Magtubo, PM chair explained.

 

He repeated the call of Nagkaisa chair and senatorial candidate Sonny Matula for the government to subsidize the testing of workers who have symptoms or are unvaccinated but reporting for work.

 

“Workers are trapped in a catch-22 situation that is not of their own making. Antigen tests are cheaper than RT-PCR but still too expensive for minimum wage earners who are among the working poor. There are at least a million minimum wage workers in the NCR and half a million in Calabarzon, both areas facing the brunt of the new COVID-19 wave. Once workers are positive from antigen tests, they are immediately barred from working but cannot get sickness benefits from the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC). The way out of this trap is for the government to provide free RT-PCR tests for workers,” Magtubo explained.

 

PM and Nagkaisa have been calling for “balik trabahong ligtas” since the lockdowns were relaxed in late 2020 and the economy re-opened. Senator Risa Hontiveros championed this call by filing an eponymous bill that guarantees provision of PPE’s for workers and enforcement of OSH standards. The demand for free testing however has not been heeded as the recent national budget conspicuously does not explicitly provide funds for it. Still the free tests and paid quarantine leaves can be provided as benefits from ECC, Philhealth, the Social Security System as an alternative.

 

Magtubo asked workers to collectively negotiate with employers for the provision of PPE’s, enforcement of OSH rules and the formation of safety committees. “All of these are guaranteed in the OSH Law. Workers just need to claim our rights. Ang karapatan ay ipinaglalaban. Batas ini!,” he added. 

January 7, 2022

Loopholes in DOLE-DTI guidelines will imperil workers

Photo from SCMP

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) stated that loopholes in the DOLE-DTI workplace guidelines on covid will put masses of workers in danger when they return to work. “Weak enforcement instruments and the lack of penal provisions in the guidelines will incentivize non-compliance by employers and thus imperil the health and safety of millions of workers and of the population as a whole,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

He explained that “The government has imposed an iron fist policy on ordinary people violating quarantine rules on the streets but in contrast is using kid gloves on capitalists. This is a stark double standard or social distancing in a bad sense. Compliance with occupational health and safety is an expense for employers and thus a deduction on their profit. Thus penalties on non-compliance will deter employers from their default behavior.”

Last Labor Day, one of the main demands in the online protest was for #BalikTrabahongLigtas. PM also announced its support for the proposed bill by Sen. Risa Hontiveros entitled the Balik Trabahong Ligtas bill which seeks to augment health care coverage for all workers regardless of employment status.

The group insisted that with more than 90% of establishments comprised of MSME’s which even before the covid pandemic are notorious for violating labor standards, strict monitoring and enforcement is needed to ensure occupational safety and public health when millions of workers return to work.

“Employers cannot be relied upon to voluntarily comply with labor and safety standards while the DOLE is sorely lacking in its record of enforcement. We propose that a mechanism be setup comprised of representative of DOLE, DTI, employers and workers to monitor compliance and enforcement, and to propose amendments to the guidelines,” Magtubo elaborated.

Further the group proposed the following changes to the guidelines:

1.      Coverage by Philhealth of the full cost of hospitalization of workers infected with covid.

2.      Provision by employer of wage subsidy for workers who are put on 14-day quarantine.

3.      Payment of hazard pay for workers in workplaces with imminent danger.

4.      Right to refuse by workers if working conditions are unsafe.

5.      Consultation with unions in enterprises that are organized.

3 May 2020

Labor group dares PNoy to certify bill criminalizing OSH violations

Press Release

May 29, 2015

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today challenged President Benigno Aquino III to certify as priority legislation of his administration the bill providing for criminalization of violation of occupational safety and health (OSH) standards. “PNoy’s declaration that there needs to be an ‘integrated multi-disciplinary approach’ in response to the Kentex factory fire are highfalutin words good for bureaucrats but abstract to workers who want to see concrete action and political will from the government,” averred Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

It was reported that last Wednesday that President Aquino met officials from the Labor Department and other agencies regarding the government’s response to the Kentex fire. Even earlier Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz pushed for the enactment of pending bills that mandate stiffer fines and jail terms for employer breach of workplace safety standards.

“We welcome Secretary Baldoz’s support for bills criminalizing OSH violations but until her boss PNoy certifies as urgent such pending legislation, they remain so much noise signifying nothing,” Magtubo insisted.

PM had been vocal in calling not just for justice for workers killed and injured in the Kentex fire but for labor inspection and enforcement reforms. As an immediate reform, Magtubo called for deputizing labor leaders as additional labor inspectors. PM is also pushing for criminalization of  OSH violations as a potent deterrent.

Magtubo said that “Workers can forget PNoy’s slight of not even visiting the Kentex factory after the fire or the wake of workers killed, but we cannot forgive if in the coming State of the Nation address he will not certify as urgent the bills providing for criminalization of OSH breach and for protection of security of tenure.”

Labor groups have been campaigning for passage of security of tenure bill that will regulate the rampant practice of replacing regular workers with contractual laborers. In the wake of the Kentex fire, it was found out that Kentex not only violated OSH standards but also labor laws, including using an illegal contractor to hire agency workers in the factory.

Nagkaisa calls for thorough investigation on Valenzuela factory fire

Photo from Phil Daily Inquirer

NEWS RELEASE

NAGKAISA

14 May 2015

A coalition of labor groups offered sympathies to the victims of a deadly fire in Valenzuela City as it called on concerned government agencies to conduct a fair, speedy but thorough investigation on this tragedy that caused death and injury to at least 60 workers.

“The high death toll from this inferno strongly indicates a complete breach of safety protocols required for industries.  Life certainly matters, but justice for this kind of catastrophe goes beyond legally required compensation.  Factory owners and industry regulators must be held criminally-liable for this tragedy,” said Renato Magtubo of Partido Manggagawa (PM), one of Nagkaisa! convenors.

Josua Mata of Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro) suggested that investigations do not just determine the cause of fire but must dig deeper into why dozens of workers were fatally trapped in the second floor of the factory building.

“The country’s occupational safety and health standards (OSHS) do not only require workplaces to be safe from hazardous and flammable substances but also must be equipped with necessary infrastructures that address emergencies like contamination, fire or explosions,” said Mata.

Initial reports said the fire came from the stock of chemicals in the first floor of the building where a welding work is also being done.

Alan Tanjusay of ALU-TUCP, on his part, said: “this tragedy could have been prevented had government agencies, which include the labor department and local government units, strictly enforced the OSHS requirements in workplaces.”

Leody De Guzman of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) advised the families of victims of Valenzuela fire to organize themselves and press charges against the owners of the footwear company.

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) likewise called on concerned government agencies to extend the necessary financial and legal assistance to the victims. 

The National Confederation of Labor (NCL) believed a substantial number of establishments all over the country are not compliant with occupational health safety standards because of corruption in government agencies.

Meanwhile Annie Geron of PSLINK, a confederation of public sector unions, bewailed the fact that quality public service, which include ensuring the safety of all workers at all times, remains missing or stuck in a state of downgraded priority in the government bureaucracy.