DOLE-3 regional director Maria Zenaida Angara-Campita personally interviewing RSC workers. Contributed photo
SAN SIMON, Pampanga – Regular monitoring of working conditions at the Real Steel Corp. (RSC) here have been conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment and the local police to ensure the safety and welfare of the workers. Only recently, the local police even issued to the company a certificate of its compliance with mandatory drug tests among its workers as mandated by law.
“No [RSC] employees have been found positive of illegal drugs during random and regular drug testings,” said Major Freddie Herry who issued the certification even as he belied allegations that “some workers were forced to sniff illegal drugs” inside the steel plantpremises.
Herry has since been relieved of his post as San Simon police chief, claiming that his relief was due to false accusations against him in the social media.
DOLE–Region 3 said it is presently looking into “administrative violations” that could have been committed by the RSC management, noting “minor offenses” during a recent inspection.
This, even as it clarified that 42 laborers earlier reported to have been rescued were in fact allowed to freely leave the steel plant after they filed their resignation.
“It was just a miscommunication and wrong angling of the story by a media entity from Manila,” DOLE Region 3 director Maria Zenaida Angara-Campita wasquoted as saying in media reports. “They were actually prevented to go out of the factory compound because of the quarantine protocols and lockdown and health concerns.“
Campita noted that there are over 400 workers at the RSC manufacturing plant, but only 42 of them voluntarily resigned due to “homesickness” after a six-month lockdown imposed by the company to preventits workers from contracting the coronavirus.
She cited the company paying more than the minimum daily wage, with laborers receiving P750 to P850 per day.
Deceived
Stranded in Pampanga, the resigned workers are reported to be appealing to RSC management for reinstatement claiming that they were “deceived by a former employee who spread baseless and unfounded stories” about the company.
“Napilitan lang po kami dahil sa mga pananakot sa amin…Ang totoo po wala kaming reklamo laban sa kumpanya kasi maayos naman ang pagdala sa amin, bukod dun maayos at airconditioned na barracks pa ang aming tinutuluyan,” said one of the employees who voluntarily resigned.
RSC owner Irwin Chua cried foul over the “baseless reports made by disgruntled individuals” and posted in social media. He said it was pure harassment aimed at discrediting the good name of his company.
“Hindi po perpekto ang Real Steel pero sinisiguro po namin na tuloy tuloy ang pag improve ng aming sistema at pamamalakad,” Chua said in a statement read to reporters by one of his staff.
RSC general manager Melodie Arellano reiterated her strong denial of allegations of maltreatment and illegal detention of their workers, clarifying that they wereprohibited to go outside of the compound due to health concerns “and nothing else.”
“Pinapayagan namin silang lumabas but not in group…Hindi pwede lumabas lahat, batch by batch lang. Kapag nakabalik na ang isang batch, yung iba naman ang palalabasin.” Arellano pointed out.
