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My Personal Opinion on the Recent Universal Robina Incident

I was doing some news readings and I found out about the death of a certain Stephen Corilla. The incident happened in the Universal Robina Corporation's factory in Mandaue a few days ago. It really chilled my bones to read these details which I'll share from Sunstar:

POLICE are set to investigate a food and beverage plant in Barangay Tabok, Mandaue City after one of its workers was killed on duty while cleaning a pulverizer machine Thursday afternoon, June 2, 2022.

Cpl. Glenn Bordalba of the Mandaue City Police Office Station 3 in Barangay Basak who is leading the investigation told SunStar Cebu Monday, June 6, that they will visit the Universal Robina Corp. (URC) Mandaue City plant in Tabok on Tuesday, June 7, to investigate the matter.

Bordalba added that they have not started the investigation yet as they were not allowed entry to the site by the URC management after the incident was reported to them.

An approval from the corporation’s consultant is needed for the police to conduct an investigation on the site, he said.

The incident happened around 1 p.m. of June 2 while the victim, Stephen Corilla, 33, was working in URC’s Mandaue plant.

Initial reports stated that the pulverizing machine that Corilla was working with accidentally turned on while he was still inside it, leading to his death.

URC’s statement

URC confirmed the incident in a statement Monday, June 6.

“It is with great sadness that we confirm the passing of one of our third-party workers due to an incident at the workplace that is now being investigated. We are fully cooperating with the authorities in this effort. Our prayers and condolences go to his loved ones. Through his agency we have reached out to the bereaved family to offer our assistance,” it said.

I have found some idiocies on Facebook lately. I noticed there are a lot of brainless comments from people while the investigation is going on. I was thinking that is some form of negligence that may have happened. It might also be a case of "when the cat is away--the mouse will play". If it's not negligence then maybe the higher-ups were out somewhere when it happened. There are employees who will wait for the chance to do something bad--that's when the boss isn't around. There's also the possibility of sabotage being done that led to this unfortunate incident. Sabotage happens quite too often and the company was left unprepared. I think there's an inside job that led to this unfortunate incident. Another possibility that led to this incident is the failure to follow the Lockout-Tagout procedure. That is to make sure that all dangerous equipment is turned off. It could be a classic case of carelessness. Whoever was in charge that that time should be fired and be placed in jail. These are but speculations and I'm just waiting for updates.

I'm just glad that URC actually released its statement. So far, they're apparently fully cooperated though there was an initial delay. The need for the URC consultant's approval could be that they needed full cooperation--not a one-sided investigation. The settlement between the employee's family and the employer is a necessity. I think it would be best to avoid throwing in judgments until the investigation is completed. The loved ones of the deceased employee have the right to know. However, to pass judgment immediately is uncalled for. There could be reasons why URC hasn't communicated with the family yet. 

Granted, URC's main headquarters is in Quezon City. What happened in Mandaue City may be more the branch's fault than the fault of the company as a whole. I think it would be good if the directors might want to step in. I think this is an isolated case that needs to be dealt with immediately. A business' expansion can be an asset but it can also be a liability. If a business gets too big--it can be hard to monitor. I think it's getting hard to monitor other branches in the Philippines.

Is this a call to go against capitalism? There are several isolated cases that happened. Who can remember some people making fake claims on social media? Who can remember the fried towel hoax in Jollibee? Who can remember claims such as a fried rat in McDonald's? We can also think that companies end up hiring bad eggs every now and then. This is an unfortunate incident but it doesn't mean capitalism is evil. Capitalism has provided for the goods and services in a free market regulated by the government. This is rather a call for responsible capitalism. I think the Mandaue Branch needs to be investigated as to what truly led to this unfortunate incident. Any neglect must be dealt with shiftly to serve justice for the deceased.

References

"Mandaue factory worker dies while working; police to probe incident" by Honey I. Cotejo, Lauren Mondonedo-Inot (June 06, 2022)
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