Fire strikes two-storey building in Cavite Export Processing Zone
More than 100 million pesos worth of properties were destroyed after a fire gutted down a two-storey building at the Cavite Export Processing Zone in Rosario Friday night and was extinguished by firemen Saturday morning
SFO4 Purisimo Frederick Tabasa, a Bureau of Fire Protection officer in Cavite, told the Daily Manila Shimbun in a phone interview the fire was reported around 9:49 am hit the establishment owned by House Technology Industries (HTI) and its sister company SCAD Services Pte. Ltd .
A fire struck almost the same area on February 2017 where five persons died.
The fire reached its highest alarm of Task Force Alpha at around 10:37 pm of Friday, declared under control by 11:49pm and put out around 4:34 am Saturday.
Tabasa said firemen are still unable to find out the cause of the fire but based on initial investigation the fire began at the production and warehouse area located at the second floor of the building.
He said no casualty was recorded but Tabasa noted that based on their initial assessment estimated cost of damage reached to 245 million pesos.
“Based on our assessment since it is an industrial property and it costs 35,000 pesos per square meter,” Tabasa said.
He added that based on initial assessment the whole property is 7,000 square meters, as the ground floor is about 3,000 square meters and the second floor is around 4,000 square meters.
Tabasa could not say if the establishment is owned by a foreign firm but he said initial investigation disclosed that the company is “manufacturing household needs operated by Japanese”.
Kilusang Mayo Uno Secretary General Jerome Adonis said: “It is enraging that these workplace infernos happen again and again with utmost impunity especially inside special economic zones. Last night’s fire at the CEPZ occurred nearly a year after the February 1, 2017 HTI tragedy and a month after the NCCC Mall tragedy in Davao,” he said.
"It is very alarming that such tragedies are sure to happen again until the government remains futile in upholding workers’ safety and welfare. The government’s policy of putting workers’ lives in peril for the sake of attracting foreign investors has to stop," he added.
With these incidents, the labor group demanded for “an immediate, independent and mandatory Fire Safety, Occupational Health and Safety and Labor Standards inspection in all companies inside the Cavite Export Processing Zone and in all Special Economic Zones all over the country.”
“The DOLE must also junk its policy of voluntary compliance and self-inspection and conduct a nationwide OHS and Labor standards inspection,” said Adonis.
“We also call on the Senate to immediately pass the Occupational Safety and Health Bill that has been sitting on their desks for a few months now,” he noted. Robina Asido/DMS
