REACTION: Based on the article Ten Workers Die in Construction Accident in the Philippines, which reported an incident happened

on the 27 day of January at the Eton Property Groups Luxury Condominium Construction or Eton Residences, there are some statement
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which convene a fact on that tragedy. First, The tragic death of these workers was completely avoidable. Yes, it is true that this tragedy should not happen if only some rules and regulations are prioritized and some rights are observed. According to Rule 1080 of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards, which pertain to personal protective equipment and devices, Every employer shall at his own expense furnish his workers with protective equipment for the eyes, face, hands and feet, protective shields and barriers whenever necessary by reason of the hazardous nature of the process or environment, chemical or radiological or other mechanical irritants or hazards capable of causing injury or impairment in the function of any part of the body through absorption, inhalation, or physical contract. But as we can see in the tragic incident these rules were not observed, because all of the 11 workers do not have personal protective equipment (PPE) like safety belts, life lines or even harness involved in their work. Safety nets as discussed also in this rule were discarded, which as reported in the article do not follow the standard qualification of safety nets. Another rule not observed is Rule 1410 of the OSHS, which relates to the scaffolding safety. According to this rule, Every scaffold shall be of good construction, of sound materials and strength for the purpose for which it is intended and every lifting appliance including working gear and all other plant equipment used for anchoring or fixing shall be of good mechanical construction, of sound material and adequate strength for the load it will carry. But in line with the article, the workers are not aware with the safety procedure in this rule and they rode the gondola that have a maximum capacity of only 5-6 people. They dont also have an operator in the gondola which on the article described that any worker was allowed to raise or lower the gondola. Finally, I also agree on the text that with less knowledge on Occupational Safety and health Standards (OSHS) these workers were subjected to danger that cause them to die. We can also add the limiting rule of DOLE in terms of inspection. According to the statement of Anna Leah Escresa-Colina, executive director of the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research Incorporated (EILER), the case of Eton workers laid bare the lethal combo of non-inspection of workplaces and a toothless Occupational Health and Safety Standards (OHSS). First, instead of growing muscle on a skeleton crew of less than 300 labor inspectors pitted against 900,000 workplaces, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in 2004 institutionalized non-inspection by issuing Department Order 57-2004 (D.O. 57-04). The D.O. 57-04 allowed for companies employing more than 200 workers to do self-assessment instead of going through a comprehensive inspection. This allowed Eton Residences to deploy and use an illegal gondola which killed 10 workers.

In this article, some statement was misjudgment, some concept contains less information, and some information was not told. One statement which is a misjudgment is that only the Owner of the Eton Residences , the contractors, and the subcontractors were blamed in the tragic incident that cause 10 workers to die and only one survived but was injured. We overlook the incident and not knowing that also the workers have some mistakes on not observing some rules presented by the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC). According to witness accounts, the workers rode the gondola instead of taking the stairs during their break time. This specifies that they have an option, but they insist in riding with the gondola which only accommodates 5-6 people. Subcontracting is the concept that contains less information. Pertaining to one Non- Government Organization (NGO), Eton tragedy highlight need to end subcontracting, discusses an appalling condition of subcontracting scheme. In a statement discussed by the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research Inc. (EILER), Eton Properties Philippines Inc., the owner of the Makati Condominium project may escape liability in the tragedy due to its subcontracting arrangements. Anna Leah Escresa-Colina said also that We urge the Department of Labor and Employment to look not just on the health and safety compliance of the construction project but also on the subcontracting schemes that Eton employs for the project. In subcontracting scheme, big construction investors like Lucio Tan owned Eton, normally tap a web of subcontractors that employ contractual workers for specific parts of a construction project to minimize labor cost but affecting the health and safety of the workers because DOLE can only tolerate a company with less than 200 workers she added. The statement which is not noted is that 2 years after the tragedy, justice is not yet obtained. Families of the deceased Eton workers was crying that, The slain Eton workers were deprived of the right to decent wages, right to security of tenure, right to safe working conditions. CONCLUSION: