Mandaue City police: Investigation on factory worker’s death moving forward

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu—The Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) said investigation on the case of Stephen Corilla, the worker who died while working in a factory here, is underway.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Franco Rudolf Oriol, MCPO deputy city director for operations and spokesperson, said that through the direction of MCPO Director Police Colonel Roland Bulalacao, the MCPO City Investigation Management Unit has already stepped in and is overseeing the case to help the Basak Police Station 3 fast track the investigation on this controversial case.

Watch his interview here:

“Ang atoang imbestigador nag gather pa. Nagsige pa og interview sa mga kauban sa biktima ug naa pa tay interview sa management para gyud makuha na to ang kinatibuk-ang facts surrounding the death of Stephen Corilla,” said Oriol.

The 32-year-old Corilla died on Thursday, June 2, 2022, when he reportedly got sucked into a pulverizing machine of the Universal Robina Corp. (URC) plant in Barangay Tabok, Mandaue City while he was cleaning it.

Corilla, who lives in barangay Budlaan in Cebu City, left a wife and three kids. The kids are aged 12, 7, and 5.

Oriol said that they have initially talked to the management of the company. According to investigators, the company has already talked with the family of the victim.

Oriol said they are looking into the possibility of the negligence of the company or the supervisor, and foul play, considering that the victim was hired just two weeks prior to the incident.

He said an investigator has already asked the management of URC a copy of the CCTV footage in the area where the incident happened. He said the management is still waiting for their technician from Manila to retrieve the footage from a hard drive.

Oriol said there are still a lot of questions left unanswered regarding the controversial death of Corilla. Among the the things they want to know is why was the victim cleaning the pulverizing machine when he was allegedly a bagger. 

They also want to know who asked the victim to clean the machine, and why was the family informed about his death very late. Stephen reportedly died at around 1 p.m. A police report said the family was informed of his death at around 3 p.m.

Moreover, Oriol said one of the things they really want to know is why the company did not report the incident to the police.

Oriol said they were able to know about the incident through Aime Corilla, the wife of the victim. She reported the incident on Friday, June 3, a day after the death of Stephen.

The spokesman said that companies should be the ones to report the incident to them so that they can immediately conduct an investigation. 

He said though that according to URC’s management, it was the first time that there was an accident that happened in the factory.

Oriol said for now, they have already asked the management of URC not to use the pulverizing machine and the area where Stephen died as not to hamper their investigation. 

Meanwhile, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes  said they are still waiting for the report of the police about the investigation.

“Atoa gyu’ng ipa imbestiga og tarong. It doesn’t mean nga ang siyudad dili na mubuhat og lakang para sa imbestigasyun. We don’t want to leave a stone unturned,” said Cortes.

/bmjo

READ MORE:

DOLE-7 issues temporary work stoppage order vs Universal Robina Corp. for worker’s death

Family of factory worker killed in Mandaue City seeks justice