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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- A fishing company based in Navotas and Malabon is being investigated by the Department of Labor and Employment for illegal recruitment, human trafficking, and child labor.
DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz gave the instruction to Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac and DOLE Central Visayas regional director Exequiel Sarcauga after 38 workers of the Pesca Maharlika Marine Resources Inc. complained of general labor standards violations and demanded reimbursement of illegal salary deductions and payment of correct salaries, profit shares, and other benefits.
The company is also being complained of for inhuman work conditions, such as lack of health and safety measures, excessive working hours, and other illegal practices, such as the employment of minors and, possibly, illegal recruitment.
Baldoz ordered the filing of cases, if warranted, against the owner and officials of the fishing company.
“Such employer who thrives and profits on the blood, sweat, and tears of common, unsuspecting workers deserve no mercy,” she said.
Cacdac and Sarcauga were in Dumaguete City Sunday to attend the third conference on the case which is being mediated-conciliated under the DOLE’s Single-Entry Approach mechanism.
According to Sarcauga, Pesca Maharlika Marine Resources Inc. has recruited and employed 250 fishermen-workers from all over the country, mostly from Central Visayas, for a five-trip, 10-month deep-sea fishing expedition near international waters off Palawan that started in July 2010 and ended in April 2011.
In his report to Secretary Baldoz, Sarcauga said the company also recruited eight workers who were minors and who have not been issued Fish Worker’s Identification Cards by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). The ID card is required under the International Labor Organization-International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour Deep Sea Fishing Project 2000-2001.
Deaths among deep-sea divers
“What was unfortunate was that five of the 250 fishermen have died during the deep-sea fishing expedition,” Sarcauga revealed.
“One of them died from a stabbing incident, while four got killed from decompression,” he added.
Sarcauga reported that the complainants have narrated the inhuman conditions of work that they experienced during the expedition.
“The fishermen were required to work from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. with only one to two hours of meal and rest periods. They were required to dive in depths of between 14 to 20 ‘dupa’ (approximately 1.4 meters),” he said.
“Some of them were employed as ‘abog,’ the fish workers who are not required to dive, but are fitted in the water with steel chains called ‘siroska’ weighing between four to five kilograms. The ‘siroska’ are used to frighten and drive fish to the nets. All the fishermen did not have any diving gear except for eye goggles,” he said.
No salaries
Worse, the fishermen-workers were cheated out of the profits of the expedition.
During the recruitment and before they sailed, they were promised 20 percent share of the gross sales, but despite gross revenues of over P47 million on 25,000 tubs of fish haul, the workers didn’t get anything because almost all of the expenses of the expedition -- recruitment, fish carrier, plane fares, house rental and budget of the workers’ fish checkers, house rental and budget of the master fisherman’s family, hotel and accommodation of BFAR representative, including the capital of the master fisherman whose part-time business was to sell cigarettes to the workers during the expedition -- were deducted from their 20 percent share of gross revenues.
“All that the fishermen-workers got were a cash advance of P4,000 each given after they had been recruited. Also at intervals during the five fishing trips, which they spent on an island in Palawan, the workers were not allowed any leave. They were also required to repair the company’s fishing boats and fishing gear and equipment,” Sarcauga added.
Baldoz said that after the conciliation-mediation conferences at the DOLE Field Office in Negros Oriental where the complainants flocked to after the expedition, the DOLE will evaluate the complaints and decide on the findings, records, and testimonies of the parties.
“But right now, what we will do is to ensure that the general labor and occupational health and safety standards, particularly the settlement of all the money claims, are enforced in favor of the workers,” Baldoz said.
“This is, however, without prejudice to the filing of other appropriate criminal charges against the company, its owner, and its officials,” she added.
