Stories On Closure Third Of GenSan Canneries Misinformationff

Over the last few days news stories have been going around the world, which report that a “third of canning factories in the southern city of General Santos, the tuna capital of the country, plan to cease operations due to the high prices of oil and other inputs”.

These news stories carry a headline such as: GenSan Tuna Canneries to Close and mention the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment as source for saying that some 6,000 and in some other news story even 26,000, cannery workers would loose their jobs.

The real facts are that not one single General Santos tuna Cannery, based on the Island of Mindanao, has been closing down, and there are no indications that any of them will in the coming months.

What is true however is that the sardine canning industry on the Island of Zamboanga is going through a tough time, which is worsened by the recent very high fuel prices. Mega Fishing, Zam-boanga Universal Fishing, YL Fishing and Ayala Foods are the sardine companies involved. In Zamboanga also one tuna cannery, Miramar, has requested to temporarily lay off a part of its workforce. Mega Fishing Corporation, Miramar Fishing Corporation and YL Fishing Corporation, have announced a temporary shut down from four to six months beginning November 2005.

Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said that Mega Fishing, Zam-boanga Universal Fishing, Miramar, YL Fishing and Ayala Foods wrote the labor department office in the region that the series of pump price increase have jacked up the costs of other materials used in the canning of sardines and tuna, including tin plates imported from Japan and South Korea, she added.

Demand for their output has also dropped significantly, and the five firms need a capital injection of 700 million pesos (12.7 million dollars) to survive, she stated.

Santo Tomas said she had appealed to the five companies to adopt more flexible work hours instead of closing shop to save jobs.

“The regional office would provide the affected sardines and canning firms guidelines on reduced workdays scheme they may adopt to save on operations costs and, thus, avoid temporary shutdown,” she added.