Mangudadatu 'bodyguard' kills 2 in Olongapo

An alleged bodyguard of Buluan Vice-Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, gubernatorial candidate in Maguindanao province, killed two security personnel of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) in Olongapo City on Monday.

Initial reports identified the fatalities as retired policeman Delfin Orines and Seferino Abadia, 60, members of the SBMA security force.

The 2 were shot dead inside the SBMA's Law Enforcement Department's office by Ali Mohamedin Panegas, who allegedly identified himself to authorities as one of Mangudadatu's bodyguard.

Reports said Panegas was accosted and then brought to the SBMA's Law Enforcement Department office for investigation. The suspect allegedly pulled out a gun and shot dead the victims.

Panegas has been arrested and currently detained at the same office.

Mangudadatu, meanwhile, denied that Panegas is his bodyguard.

"Hindi ko siya kilala. Sa ngayon maraming naglalabasang paninira laban sa aming pamilya," the vice-mayor said.

Mangudadatu's wife and 2 sisters were among the 57 people massacred by a group of gunmen allegedly led by Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province last November 23.

The massacre victims were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for governor on behalf of Mangudadatu when they were stopped and killed by more than 100 gunmen.

Mangudadatu has already filed his COC for governor.

Ampatuan Jr., meanwhile, is currently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Manila and has been charged with 41 counts of murder for the massacre.

Other members of the Ampatuan family, including its patriarch, former provincial governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. are also being implicated by police in the massacre. With reports from Zyan Ambrosio, ABS-CBN News

Korean foreman latest Hanjin work site fatality

SUBIC BAY FREE PORT—A 51-year old Korean on Sunday became the latest fatality in the string of accidents that has hounded the shipbuilding facility of Hanjin Heavy Industries Co.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil) since the $1.7-billion shipyard began operations in 2006 at the Redondo Peninsula here.

Choi Dong Baek, who was employed as a foreman by Greenbeach Power Corp., a subcontractor of HHIC-Phil, died in a hospital in San Marcelino, Zambales, at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday after a forklift ran over him at the Hanjin facility’s Assembly Shop C.

Choi’s death came just two days after another Filipino worker, 19-year-old Raldon del Rosario, perished at the shipbuilding site when an 800-kilogram curtain door assembly toppled while being tested by Great Steel Construction, another subcontractor.

SBMA investigators, who interviewed witnesses at Sunday’s accident site, reported that the incident happened at about 1:50 a.m., as workers were cleaning up after a basketball game during the midnight break.

Choi reportedly picked up the ball and was kicking it about like a soccer ball, when it rolled onto the path of the moving forklift.

Menti Dacanay, a Filipino rigger working for free port I-Tech Corp., also a subcontractor, was driving the forklift to replace the movable basketball stand.

Choi reportedly tried to retrieve the ball, but he was hit by the maneuvering forklift, which subsequently dragged and ran over the victim.

Investigators noted that Dacanay was not licensed to drive the forklift, while Pyeong Jong Yu, deputy managing director of HHIC-Phil, said Dacanay used the equipment “without getting any instruction from either Korean or Filipino foremen.”

“We are still trying to verify how he got the key of the unit, since the key should have been kept in the toolbox container,” Yu said in an accident report sent to the SBMA.

Choi became the 19th fatality at the Hanjin shipyard, where accidents¬—15 of them construction-related—had so far claimed the lives of 18 Filipino workers since 2006. Written by Henry Empeño - Busimess Mirror

Korean becomes 19th fatality at Hanjin Subic facility

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines - A South Korean expat working here was killed Sunday when a forklift ran over him at an assembly facility of the Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp. Philippines.

Police reports identified the fatality as Choi Dong Baek, a 51-year-old supervisor at the sprawling shipbuilding complex located at the Redondo Peninsula in Subic Bay. He was run over by a forklift operated by Menti Dacanay, a Filipino worker, at around 12:45 a.m. at the vicinity of assembly shop C where metal works are done.

Baek was rushed to the San Marcelino Hospital where he expired at about 1:30 a.m. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident.

Baek was the first South Korean killed this year and is the first expat to be fatally involved in a work-related accident. His death raised the total number of work-related deaths to 19 since Hanjin's construction and shipbuilding operations began in 2006.

Last Friday, a 19-year-old Filipino worker, Raldon del Rosario, died when a metal base of newly installed canvass door fell on him. He died of massive head injuries. The incident also injured Camalao Bochie, 24, who suffered leg injuries. - John Bayarong, GMANews.TV

SBMA on latest accident: ‘Heads will roll’

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said on Friday it would pursue the prosecution of all parties found liable in the death of another worker at the Hanjin shipyard here on Friday.

It has suspended a subcontractor whose operations led to the fatal accident.

Early Friday, a 19-year-old worker was killed while another was wounded after a metal base of a newly installed manual canvass door at one of the assembly facilities of the South Korean shipbuilding company fell on them.

SBMA identified the fatality as Raldon del Rosario, 19-year-old resident of Kalinga province, who suffered "massive head injury" as a result of the accident.

Another worker, identified as Camalao Bochei, 24, also from Kalinga, suffered leg injuries and was brought to the St. Jude Hospital in Olongapo City for treatment.

“We’re definitely taking action on this, and heads will roll," SBMA administrator Armand Arreza said, adding that SBMA will be "firm but fair."

Arreza ordered the suspension of Great Steel after an 11-by-5-meter curtain door that the firm was installing in one assembly shop fell on the two shipyard workers.

SBMA investigators said the two victims were just passing by the assembly shop where Great Steel workers were installing a rain curtain when the accident happened at about 8:30 a.m.

At that time, Great Steel workers were reportedly testing the rain curtain – a huge manual canvass door with a metal base - by pulling the canvass up and down with a rigged chain and pulley.

The chain holding the door broke, causing the door’s metal base support to be detached.

Del Rosario was the 18th fatality at the Hanjin shipyard since it began operations in 2006. Most of the fatal accidents, a total of 15, occurred at construction sites worked at by various subcontractors.

But while emphasizing that the recent death "had nothing to do with shipbuilding activity." Arreza added that this did not necessarily clear Hanjin Heavy Industries Co. Philippines (HHIC-Phil), which operates the $1.7-billion shipyard here.

“The SBMA is also looking into the contingent liability of Hanjin, because it is the general contractor of the shipyard," he said.

Arreza said he had also instructed the SBMA legal department to assist the families of the victims, while agency started investigating the incident.

"We will push through with prosecuting all those who will be found liable," Arreza said.

He also said that the SBMA had recently issued two notices of violation to Hanjin after the SBMA noted in a safety inspection on Jan. 6 that some workers in the shipyard did not have personal protective equipment, and that some work areas were dimly-lit and not well-ventilated.

None of the Hanjin South Korean officials could be reached for comment. - GMANews.TV

Worker dies at Subic shipbuilding facility

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines — A 19-year-old worker died in yet another accident at an assembly facility of the Hanjin Heavy Industries Corporation-Philippines in Subic on Friday, officials said.

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) identified the fatality as Raldon del Rosario from Kalinga province, an employee of Redondo I-Tech Corporation. He died of massive head injuries.

Another worker, Camalao Bochie, 24, also from Kalinga, suffered leg injuries. Both victims were rushed to St. Jude Hospital in Olongapo City where Del Rosario was confirmed dead.

Initial reports released by the SBMA said the victims were pinned down by the metal base of a newly installed manual canvass door that fell at one of the assembly facilities of the South Korean shipbuilding company.

Workers of Great Steel Con, a subcontractor of Hanjin, were testing the manual canvass door at around 8:30 a.m. when the accident happened, the SBMA said.

Del Rosario is the 18th shipbuilding and construction related fatality at the sprawling South Korean facility here.

Last year, government regulators ordered Hanjin to stop its operations in its one of its assembly shop after an 8-ton girder assembly being lifted by a crane fatally struck a worker at the back of his head. - John Bayarong, GMANews.TV

Ban on Hanjin subcontractor pressed

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has recommended the banning of a subcontractor of the Korean shipbuilder Hanjin after the recent deaths of two workers at the firm’s work site.

SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said his agency investigated the death of Jose Vener Gil, 42, and found that Philnorkor (not PhilNokor as earlier reported), a subcontractor of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc. (HHIC), had violated proper work procedures.

A 250-kilogram duct whose shackle Gil was unhooking fell on him on Nov. 26. Gil, who was employed by Philnorkor, died while being brought to the hospital.

“We found [that] Philnorkor used improper shackles in moving the ducts,” said Arreza.

“This is the company’s (Philnorkor’s) second death. We will recommend cancellation of Philnorkor’s CRTE (certificate of registration and tax exemption) to the board,” he said.

The CRTE allows a company to operate within the Subic free port without paying duties. In effect, SBMA’s move to cancel the CRTE bans Philnorkor from doing business inside the free port.

On Nov. 20, Philip Mendoza, 40, died when a metal structure fell on him when the truck he was riding in crashed into an area of the shipyard where he was working.

Mendoza’s three other companions—William Liberato, Rolex Alog and Kong Jong Sik, a Korean who was driving the truck—were hurt.

In a statement, Pyeong Jong Yu, deputy managing director of Hanjin, said the previous accident “was not in any way related to the shipbuilding operations. It was “caused by a vehicular accident as a result of human frailty,” he said.

Yu, in an accident report sent to Arreza, said the company had started an investigation “to ascertain whether the unfortunate event was the result of an industrial mishap, unavoidable human error, or simply the negligence of Philnorkor during the construction work.”

“If investigation reveals that the accident was caused by laxity in the observance of rules and regulations on occupational safety, the immediate superiors and authorities concerned with the implementation of safety policies will be made answerable, regardless of nationality,” Yu told Arreza.

“If negligence on the part of Philnorkor is the proximate cause, HHIC shall take all necessary steps to hold the contractor liable in every aspect,” he added. Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon

Another fatal accident at Hanjin; SBMA chief orders probe

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) on Monday ordered investigation of another tragedy at the Hanjin shipyard even as it penalized the South Korean firm for safety lapses in a fatal vehicular accident last week.

SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the agency’s Occupational Health and Safety Office was conducting investigation of the accident that killed Oliver Labay, a 32-year-old worker from Olongapo City, on Sunday.

“We’re staying on top of the situation, and the SBMA would get to the bottom of this recent tragedy,”Arreza said.

“Right after the accident, our investigators have begun their probe. What the SBMA safety office is now doing is getting to the root cause and the factors that may have caused the accident,” he added.

Initial investigation by the SBMA Intelligence and Investigation Office (SBMA-IIO) said Labay was grinding a block bulkhead for a cargo ship at 1:50 a.m. when another bulkhead collapsed from behind, hitting him on the back of his head and pinning him to the concrete floor.

Investigation indicated that the metal stopper keeping the one-ton bulkhead in place gave way. A Hanjin company nurse, who responded to call, said the victim died on the spot.

KC Tech, a Hanjin contractor which employed the victim through its subcontractor Suschicor, has reportedly shouldered the funeral expenses.

Arreza said the SBMA Ecology Center has issued a notice of violation to Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines on Monday after a vehicular accident led to the death of another shipyard worker on Wednesday last week.

The fatality, identified as Rafael Careg of Pasig City, was on a pick-up truck when the vehicle was hit by a Hanjin crane boom truck.

The pickup truck was reduced to a total wreck. Careg was pronounced dead on arrival at the San Marcelino Hospital.

The SBMA had penalized Hanjin.

Arreza said HHIC-Phil Jeong Sup Shim had relayed to him the company’s regrets for the tragedy and said the firm will abide by SBMA requirements on safety procedures at the shipyard.

Arreza also said that the SBMA has made arrangements to establish a safety monitoring office at the Hanjin’s Subic shipyard. The company is now setting up the office for occupancy by health and safety personnel of the SBMA, he added. J.V. Antiporda - Journal online

Crane operations at Hanjin Subic suspended after accident

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said crane operations at the Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp (HHIC) shipyard in Subic had been suspended after a crane fell on two of its employees Tuesday night, killing them instantly.

Ermita said a report submitted by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to Malacañang said investigations are now on going and crane operations had been suspended while the probe is on going.

He stressed that the incident does not warrant a termination of Hanjin’s contract as the accident involved their local supplier, the Globe Distribution Philippines, and not South Korean company directly.

He said that based on the report they received, two workers were removing the shackles of a 20-ton beam that they were moving when the crane fell from its trestle and pinned them down.

It was followed by another accident Wednesday morning when another employee fell from the roof that he was fixing.

Reports said relatives of the three employees are now seeking assistance from HHIC.

Last January, two more Filipino employees were also killed after the shipyard caught fire, which government inspectors said maybe caused by some safety violations. - GMANews.TV