Families of Manila factory fire victims 'agreed to US$3,000 settlement': lawyer

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Filipino rescue workers carry a body bag containing one of the bodies of the employees who were killed in the factory fire in Valenzuela City in May. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 5:30pm, 23 Jun 2015Updated: 5:59pm, 23 Jun 2015

The families of 57 people who died in the Philippines’ worst factory fire have dropped their claims against the company in exchange for a US$3,360 settlement, a company lawyer said today.

Relatives of over a dozen other workers who died in the May 13 fire at the two-storey Kentex Manufacturing factory in suburban Manila are expected eventually to agree to the 151,200 peso (HK$26,000) settlement, according to Kentex lawyer Renato Paraiso. It was unclear if the figure was the total or if it was the payout for each victim.

The fire at the factory which makes rubber slippers claimed 72 lives and sparked outrage over the allegedly unsafe conditions which contributed to the high death toll.

A welding machine is believed to have caused the blaze, giving off sparks which set chemicals alight. Photo: Reuters

Labour groups also denounced Kentex for relying on contract labourers who were not paid regular salaries.

Paraiso said the settlement includes a waiver against any further claims against Kentex. “More or less, we gave them what is due to them,” he said.

Lawyers for the families of the dead could not be contacted for comment.

The lawyer said the settlements were not achieved through coercion, stressing that they were negotiated with Labour Department arbiters who were present to explain the consequences to the families.