DOLE: 20 garment stores are firetraps

MANILA, Philippines -  Twenty branches of a garment store, where 17 workers were killed after a fire hit its branch in Butuan City, were found to be firetraps.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the 20 branches of Novo Fabulous Jeans and Shirts Store were found to have inadequate emergency exits, do not have enough fire extinguishers and have obstructed passageways.

Baldoz said the inspection bared a compliance rate of 40 percent for the provision of fire extinguishers and clear passageways.

Bureau of Working Condition (BWC) director Catherine Parado said the inspection covered 1,812 workers employed in 67 different Novo Jeans branches in Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, Caraga, Calabarzon, MIMAROPA, Bicol region, Western Visayas and in Mindanao.