Labor leader charges conspiracy in selection of National Steel operator

The leader of the labor union of National Steel Corp. charged yesterday that the dogged determination of Trade Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II to deliver National Steel Corp. (NSC) to the operator of his personal choice seems to be the final phase of an apparent conspiracy that could defraud legitimate stakeholders of the country’s largest steelworks, which include workers and union members.

National Steel Labor Union-FFW (NASLU-FFW) president Simplicio H. Villarta, Jr. said this conspiracy had persisted early in the Estrada administration, when the local steel industry was placed under serious financial and market strain from the government’s unilateral bringing down of the tariff wall – opening the floodgates to cheap steel from Eastern Europe, which was not even part of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Roxas, together with John Ng, owner of Cathay Pacific Steel Corp. (Capasco) and Estrada adviser for the steel industry, presided over the demise of a P28-billion company, Villarta charged. Embedded in this is a $800 million Malaysian investment through Hottick Investments, Ltd. (HIL).

The tariff reduction in hot and cold rolled steel and other products led to the inundation of the market with cheap Eastern Europe imports.

As a result, the NSC plant was shut down after losing its market. Not surprisingly, Roxas is now talking of restoring the tariffs, perhaps thinking that the lessor of his choice would take over the plants, Villarta claimed.

He also charged Roxas with hijacking the rehabilitation and reopening of NSC by creating an evaluation committee that has enmeshed the lease of the plant in a legal tangle and interminable delays.

As of May 2000 a lease by Allengoal Steel had already been approved by the liquidator and was then set for implementation. Consequently, Allengoal, whose lease proposal had been joined by the workers even at its inception, has asked SEC to rule on its lease while the workers union, in a separate petition also with the SEC, has called for a dissolution of Roxas’ EC and the inhibition of Roxas from any further proceedings on NSC.

"We are wondering why Roxas is persistent with a controversial decision on NSC, despite all the other problems that beset the trade department," Villarta said.