Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has ordered an investigation of the security agency that employed a security guard who held hostages in a mall in San Juan for its alleged unfair labor practices.
The city government of San Juan for its part vowed to investigate the alleged irregularities involving security officers of Greenhills Shopping Center where a former security guard held hostage more than 30 people on Monday.
Mayor Francis Zamora said they will intervene and investigate the allegations made by 32-year-old hostage-taker Alchie Paray, including his claim that he got fired because of corruption and other wrongdoings that also involved his bosses.
Senator Joel Villanueva on Wednesday called on the Department of Labor and Employment to verify the labor practices of security agencies, particularly their compliance with labor and occupational safety and health standards.
While castigating the actions of the suspect, Villanueva said, the claims of the former security guard who took hostages should not be shrugged off outright in the wake of the 10-hour standoff.
Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa has defended the move of authorities who handled the nine-hour hostage standoff involving a disgruntled former security guard inside a mall in San Juan City Monday night.
Gamboa said there was a tactical reason for allowing the hostage-taker to hold a press conference after the incident.
President Rodrigo Duterte was “happy” and “satisfied” that the 10-hour hostage drama in San Juan City did not lead to any fatality, the Palace said Tuesday.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President was informed of the incident during the Cabinet meeting Monday night, adding that the Palace was pleased with how the police and local officials handled the hostage-taking despite criticisms.
Bello directed DOLE–National Capital Region Director Sarah Mirasol to conduct an investigation on Archie Paray’s allegations against Safeguard Armor Security Corporation or SASCOR.
Paray reportedly held several people as hostages as a sign of protest against his employer for labor malpractices, which included non-remittance of his Social Security System, Pag-IBIG and Philippine Health Insurance Corp.contributions.
Bello said the DOLE will probe the allegation made by the security guard who was desperately in need of money to pay for his debts.
“We will investigate the allegations and I already ordered to investigate SASCOR. We will also look into the possible criminal liability if it is true that they are not remitting the contributions of their employees to the SSS, Pag-IBIG and PhilHealth,” Bello said. It was also learned that Paray is not a licensed security guard.
“The agency should not allow, to begin with, the hiring of unlicensed guards,” Bello said.
“We can never condone violence. But we also have to consider the responsibility of the agency. It could have been the root cause of the behavior of the guard. Maybe he was forced to do that because of the policy of the agency,” Bello said.
Meanwhile, Defend Jobs Philippines asked the Labor department and the local government of San Juan City to thoroughly consider the issues raised by the terminated security guard.
“While we do not condone the act of holding innocent civilians as hostages, we call on Labor Secretary Bello and San Juan City Mayor Zamora to conduct an independent probe on the event,” the group said in a statement.
“No rights must be violated and proper humane handling must be observed during the process of the suspect’s detention.
“We stand firm that a fair trial must be done for him and proper psychosocial and post-traumatic interventions must be conducted for both the hostage-taker and his hostages in the soonest possible time.” With Joel E. Zurbano, Macon Ramos-Araneta and MJ Blancaflor