Illegal to ill-legal
The response of the National and Local Government to the factory inferno that killed 72 people is it is the factory owners’ fault! I however strongly disagree.
To begin with, is it their or “our” fault if we the citizens put up high walls, secure windows with steel matting, line walls with barbed wire or “electric fences” or decorate our walls with colorful glass shards in order to keep thieves and drug crazed criminals from entering our homes? All these are part of our defense system along with the mandatory CCTV systems that local government demand we install, so they have video evidence of criminals who are rarely ever arrested unless an entire family is raped, knifed or bludgeoned to death.
In fact the barbed wire, broken glass and electric fences and noisy dogs and firearms, (many of which have expired licenses) are the last line of defense. Before all of that comes into play, we also have street associations where we pay monthly dues from 100 to 700 pesos a month so we can hire our own “security” as a second set of eyes versus any intruders, unwelcomed strangers or people using our dead end streets as public toilets or quickie spots. Why do we have to do this? because we don’t have enough real policemen but instead are provided Barangay Tanods who are paid below minimum salaries and who come from squatters areas where some of the undesirable elements come from.
Now the national government and local officials are saying that the grills, steel matting, barbed wire, glass shards and electric fences as well as small windows are all illegal and violate national building codes and fire safety codes. Then to make their utter laziness and uselessness excusable, they claim that building owners and homeowners are not very cooperative when they come to inspect the facilities.
Well whose fault is all of this? All the so-called illegal security measures we the people institute are as a result of the peace and order situation on the ground. When authorities declare that 92 percent of all barangays in the country have a drug problem, it does not take a genius to determine that criminals will be in the very same 92 percent of barangays. When cities gain such titles as “The Carnap Capital,” “the City with the most Akyat Bahay cases,” “Massacre province” or “Riding in Tandem Capital,” we know that these titles were earned from the failure of law enforcement.
When high ranking police officials and members of Congress publicly admit that we have very few policemen and equipment but keep denying crime waves, you can’t blame the people for defending their lives and their property and not bothering to depend on the police. When Mayors are admired and gain monikers such as “Dirty Harry,” “Bungo,” or “Duterte” because of their intolerance for criminality, you know that the people are desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures.
The irony and the fact is, all of these illegal security measures are and have been in plain sight of barangay officials, city officials, fire, and police officials. Even guys like DILG Secretary Mar Roxas can easily find these “militarized residences” or factories if he really wanted to. The problem is none of the concerned authorities ever complained, issued written warnings or citations first because those at the barangay level also live in the same environment and are faced by the same challenges or threats and have no choice but to utilize the same solutions.
If Fire officials have a bad reputation, guess who earned it for them? We are not the ones holding up clearances in exchange for fire extinguishers etc. If property owners are scared of suspicious of “firemen” it is because they do not properly present themselves or a prescribed procedure. In a country where we tell people to be careful about opening doors even to people in uniform, is it a surprise?
Whether it is in Barrio Kapitolyo where I live or at the BGC or the Fort, we can surely find houses or buildings that violate fire and safety codes but no one dares say or do anything because we see nothing wrong in it because what is wrong has become the norm. If government can’t do it, then we have to. And when the local or national government says nothing or does nothing, omission becomes commission and the illegal becomes ill-legal.
Secretary Mar Roxas should place all persons who have a part or role in the study or approval and regulation of the Kentex factory from the barangay level to the City Hall including Mayors, Fire officials under preventive suspension! They should not stand as investigators and prosecutors in these cases where they clearly failed to check, review and regulate matters.
It is evident that the guilty parties in government are shifting the focus of the media and the public to the fault of the welder, the employee sub-contractor, the initial financial support extended by the factory owners, as well as contractualization and below minimum salaries.
We already know that a welding related accident caused the fire, what we need to know is how the factory ended up with so many safety violations. We need to know if there was a violation in terms of architectural design and if so why this was approved by City Hall. We need to know and see the records of visits done by fire marshals, people from the Valenzuela City hall’s license and permits section. Why is the Department of Labor suddenly complaining about contractualization when it is a common practice all over the country?
If the government and DOLE imposed a single rate system on minimum salary based of merit and not politics, then we won’t have as many salary rates per region, province or type of work! The truth is our laws and policies regarding salaries are determined by politicians, lobbyists and not a logical, fair and equitable system. Even the issue of non-payment of contributions to the SSS and Pag-IBIG has been raised against the factory owners after the fact. The question to ask is why only now? Are all the people in government both local and national, suddenly haunted by the death of 72 people? Or are they scared that we may have finally awakened to their inaction and dereliction of duty or is it “Involuntary manslaughter”?
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