Party-list groups seek 'urgent' House probe on Cavite factory fire

Party-list groups on Thursday said they would seek an investigation on the fire that hit the House Technology Industries (HTI) factory at the Cavite Economic Processing Zone, which left scores of workers injured.

In separate statements, Anakpawis and Gabriela committed to filing resolutions calling for a congressional investigation on the incident, which started late  Wednesday afternoon.

According to reports citing local and fire officials, more than a hundred employees were injured in the fire, at least 10 of them with third-degree burns. Some were reportedly in “very critical condition.” Three were still missing as of Thursday morning.

Both party-list groups, however, raised concerns over the lack of an official count of the casualties.

Gabriela expressed fears “that hundreds of workers were charred to death given the operating capacity of the factory at the time of the conflagration.” The group said the incident may be worse than the May 2015 Kentex factory fire in Valenzuela City, which left 72 people dead.

“We demand at HTI, its subcontractors, ecozone officials, labor department officials, the local government of Cavite be upfront to the public and stop downplaying what could probably be the worst factory fire in the country’s history,” Gabriela said in a statement.

Anakbayan, through its representative, Ariel Casilao, scored HTI for not meeting required safety measures, and called on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to hold an “in-depth investigation on the company’s labor compliance to occupational safety and health standards.”

The groups also noted their standing protest against “anti-labor practices” in economic zones.

“The HTI factory fire should not be called as just another accident. Industrial fires are a result of deliberate neglect of workers’ welfare and scrimping on workers’ health and safety to generate immense profits,” Gabriela said.

Casilao, meanwhile, said: “EPZs (export processing zones) or SEZs (special economic zones) are actually domain within the country’s territory where government authority is not operating, but the sole dominance of capitalists who are usually foreign investors, the workers who were barred from forming unions have no venue for legitimate demands, that include improved working conditions and occupational safety.” —KBK, GMA News