Filipino workers questioned the Department of National Defense for its recent abrupt shutdown of the Philippine Sanjia-Steel Corporation in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. The plant’s closure stripped more than 300 Filipino workers of their jobs.

A combined force of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), with the AFP and PNP, raided the factory on May 15 and arrested 69 Chinese workers on allegations that they violated the country’s Labor Code. Sixty-four of them were released for lack of sufficient evidence.

DND secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr himself led the factory’s shutdown for allegedly using nuclear and toxic materials, producing substandard steel products, and for being previously owned by a certain Tony Yang linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGO. The factory remains closed and is guarded by soldiers.

The factory owners strongly denied the allegations and insisted on proper processes. They offered to bring in Japanese experts to prove their products are stable. The Chinese embassy condemned what it called the brutal treatment and discrimination by the military and police against the Chinese workers and engineers employed by the company.

The reported real reason for the shutdown is that the factory sits right beside (only a fence apart) the 300-hectare naval dry dock that the AFP is building in Macajalar Bay. The dry dock will serve as a major port and repair hub for Philippine and US warships, especially as it prepares to ignite war against China. The location favors the US because it is far from Luzon, which China can easily strike. It is also distant from its other dry docks in Zambales and Palawan.

The US currently uses Lumbia Airport in the nearby Cagayan de Oro City and the largest military reservation at Camp Kibaritan in Bukidnon. Aside from these two facilities, the US also has a facility in an AFP camp inside Marawi City. It will also begin constructing a fuel depot in Davao Gulf next year.

Workers’ demands and situation

The Philippine Sanjia-Steel Corporation is within the 3,000-hectare PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate, an industrial enclave directly administered by the DND. However, Atty. Proculo Sarmen of the Federation of Free Workers said the DND or NBI has no jurisdiction to shut down the factory because the allegations against it fall under the authority of the Department of Labor and Employment.

Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao secretary general Beverly Musni confirmed that some workers approached her to recover unpaid salaries and other benefits. They will file a case before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) to press these claims. They also called for the reopening of the factory because it is their main livelihood. Some of them earned up to ₱30,000 per month, which they say is difficult to match with other jobs.