Valenzuela sets up one-stop shop for victims’ kin
A ONE-STOP shop that will address the immediate needs of the families of the victims killed in a factory fire in Valenzuela City will be set up by the local government on Wednesday, exactly a week after the tragic incident that took the lives of 72 individuals.
Mayor Rex Gatchalian said that the one-stop shop, to be put up at the audiovisual room on the third floor of the city hall in Barangay Karuhatan, would not only give assistance to the families but also inform them of the benefits due them.
“Our mandate is to help the families get back on their feet,” Gatchalian told the INQUIRER in a phone interview yesterday. “There are so many local and national agencies who can help them, [hence] we are putting them under one roof. We don’t
want to inconvenience [the families].”
Gatchalian said that among the national agencies tapped to come on Wednesday to the one-stop shop were the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). He added that representatives from the Home Mutual Development Fund (Pag-Ibig), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and Social Security System (SSS) would also be present.
“[They will] help [provide] answers [to] whatever questions [are] lingering in their minds when it comes to the benefits due them,” Gatchalian said.
Reports said that CJC Manpower Services, a subcontractor employed by Kentex Manufacturing Inc., allegedly did not remit the employees’ contributions to SSS, Pag-Ibig and PhilHealth although these were being deducted from their salaries.
In his report to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, DOLE-NCR Director Alex Avila said that of the 104 employees provided by the Meycauayan, Bulacan-based subcontractor at Kentex, 36 were still missing based on the list from the local social welfare office.
On providing scholarships to the children left behind by the victims who perished in the seven-hour blaze, Gatchalian said that “at this point, we are reviewing the individual profiles” of the victims, to determine the other forms of assistance that may be extended to their relatives.