Justice for NCCC Mall fire victims

Churchpeople Workers Solidarity (CWS) mourns and grieves with the families and relatives of the 38 BPO workers killed on Dec. 23, 2017, in the NCCC Mall fire tragedy in Davao City.

The tragic incident is unfortunate especially that it happened during the Christmas season when families, friends and relatives gather together to celebrate the birth of the Messiah.

Initial investigation reveals that the building was unable to comply with safety standards. Survivors who were interviewed shared their ordeal narrating in detail their experience of being trapped because the fire exits were locked.

Obviously, the fire exits and passageways failed to comply with the provisions of the National Building Code, Fire Code of the Philippines, and Fire Protection and Control provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards of 1989.

This is not the first time that workers are killed in workplaces. In 2015, 74 workers died when a fire struck Kentex Manufacturing Inc. in Valenzuela. Early this year, three deaths were reported while hundreds were injured when a fire broke out in House Technology Industries in Cavite.

This series of deaths inside workplaces confirms the sorry state of our workers. Companies continue to amass wealth by accumulating profit at the expense of the toiling workers.

This utter disregard for human life is condemnable! Indeed, workers are being sacrificed as burnt offerings at the altar of profit! We echo the words of Pope Francis condemning “slave labor” around the world: “Today in the world there is this slavery that is perpetrated with the most beautiful thing that God has given man: the capacity to create, to work, to make his own dignity.”

CWS calls on an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident. We demand justice and accountability for this yet another tragedy that afflicted workers and their families. We call on government agencies to look into every BPO company’s compliance with occupational health and safety standards.

Justice must be served to the victims and those accountable must be penalized and punished so as to avoid future workplace deaths.

FR. RUDY ABAO, MSC,
Churchpeople Workers Solidarity,
churchfortheworkers
@gmail.com