Attacked worker at Hanjin settles case

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines—The Filipino worker, who sued a South Korean foreman who hit him with a steel flashlight at the Hanjin shipyard at the Subic Bay Freeport, withdrew the frustrated murder charge after forging a settlement with his attacker.

Arceo Malit, 26, a pipe welder and foreman at Hanjin shipyard, filed an affidavit of desistance at the provincial prosecutor's office here last week, said Prosecutor Jacqueline Suing on Thursday.

On June 23, Lee Cheon Sik, a South Korean foreman of Hanjin subcontractor Greenbeach, hit Malit with a steel flashlight on the head. Suing said Malit had informed her office that Lee had asked for his forgiveness and expressed remorse over the attack.

Suing said Malit's hospital expenses, reaching more than P150,000, were paid for by Hanjin.

Lito Soriano, Malit's uncle and the family's spokesperson, said Lee's representatives gave Malit's family P55,000.

Soriano said the family wanted to pursue the case, "but my nephew just wanted to resume his life." By Robert Gonzaga - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk