SC orders Kentex exec: Pay 57 workers P1.4 million

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered Kentex Manufacturing Corp. general manager and treasurer Ong King Guan to pay 57 of the firm’s workers a total of P1.4 million in unpaid wages and benefits.

In a nine-page decision dated July 8 and released yesterday, the SC’s First Division reversed a March 27, 2017 Court of Appeals (CA) ruling and reinstated the June 26, 2015 order of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) National Capital Region office finding Ong “solidarily liable to pay the employees named in the order” P1.4 million.

The DOLE filed a petition before the SC, saying the CA erred in discharging Ong from being personally and solidarily liable with Kentex in providing the monetary award.

The SC sided with DOLE when the agency said its 2015 order cannot be altered by the CA since it had become final and executory as Ong failed to follow a department order to file an appeal with the DOLE secretary.

 On May 13, 2015, 72 persons died and a number of workers were injured when a fire broke out in Kentex’s slipper factory in Valenzuela City.

 The DOLE conducted an investigation and learned that Kentex contracted with CJC Manpower Services and that CJC was reportedly an unregistered private recruitment and placement agency.

 The DOLE also noted that CJC did not comply with standards on occupational health and safety as well as on labor, since it underpaid workers and failed to pay statutory benefits.