This was the question posed by BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) as the dust settles on the NCCC tragedy.
BIEN lit candles on Christmas evening for the death of at least 37 employees of American company Research Now Survey Sampling International (SSI) when the NCCC Mall in Davao City burned to ashes on December 23.
All 37 bodies have been found. One body was found on Sunday, while 36 others were found on Monday, in the stairs in what served as the lobby of the SSI at the top floor of the mall.
The group lamented that in previous cases of workplace fire leading to massive deaths of workers, such as Kentex, HTI, and Novo Jeans among others, justice for the victims and their families has been elusive and slow-paced.
“We are very concerned that this might also be the fate of 37 SSI workers. And it is not unlikely that future occupational deaths will continue happen if nobody is penalized in this case,” said BIEN Spokesperson Mylene Cabalona.
Cabalona described such cases of workplace deaths as “massacres of working people who strive hard to earn a living”.
“It is enraging and unacceptable that while these kinds of disaster have happened repeatedly in the past, occupational deaths happen again and again. And this is largely because no one is held accountable—there is impunity for violating workers’ rights and neglecting workers safety,” Cabalona averred.
The group has earlier called for a thorough and independent investigation as, they said, “the incident raises serious questions to SSI’s compliance to safety standards.”
“One survivor has detailed on social media his experience during the fire. According to his narration, the fire exits were unpassable. Other individuals have attested also on social media that there were no fire drills conducted and no alarm [installed]. Indeed, there appears to be possible violations of safety standards which led to death of numerous workers,” Cabalona said.
A survivor also said the fire alarm and the sprinklers of the mall did not work.
The group also said that the tragedy should compel authorities to look into BPO workplaces occupational health and safety standards.
For one, they decried that many BPO companies do not conduct its own emergency drills or join national emergency drills. The reason for this, they said, that operations cannot stop and workers have to keep on taking calls because there is a service level that needs to be maintained.
Many reactions to the tragedy on social media also shared the practices in BPO companies that appeared to contravene safety standards, such as locked fire exits, one entry-one exit and other practices that ensure employees have no way of duping time records and breaks.
Other reactions also inquired the Davao City local government’s accountability for allowing the NCCC mall to operate under standards revealed only by the fire and 37 deaths.
Meanwhile, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte announced his decision to resign from his post also on Monday, Christmas day. He said his reason was out of ‘delicadeza,’ over his name being dragged into the P6.4-billion shabu (crystal meth) smuggling case in the Bureau of Customs and his public online squabble with his daughter with his first wife, Isabelle Duterte, who also just recently made waves in social media in her ‘imeldific’ photoshoot at the Malacañang Palace.
Paolo, according to his sister and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, would be on leave until his resignation is approved by his father, President Rodrigo Duterte. Sara said in a press briefing on Wednesday that the written resignation letter has been mailed to the Office of the President. The president should act on the letter within 15 days from receipt or it is deemed accepted.
