ANGELES CITY – Former members of Task Force Hanjin in Zambales said they quit the panel because they were “tired of traditional politics” and formed an independent group.
“We resigned but did not quit,” said former vice governor Ramon Lacbain II, who was earlier appointed by Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso to chair the provincial task force formed to oversee the welfare of locals displaced by the Hanjin project and the shipyard’s workers, as well as to protect the environment at the facility.
In a letter to The STAR, Lacbain said he and other task force members resigned and created the People’s Task Force on Hanjin and Subic Bay Inc., a non-government organization which they registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
While saying that they were not defying Deloso, Lacbain said, “We resigned because we are already tired of traditional politics.”
At least 13 workers have died in accidents at the Hanjin shipyard since the company started operations at the Subic Freeport in 2006.
Lacbain said they formed the independent task force “because we saw the need to strengthen and expand the task force on Hanjin by including as members all interested sectors of the community, something that was not possible if we remained under the Office of the Governor.”
“We resigned not in defiance of the Governor, as what our detractors announce, but in support of his good cause for the people of Zambales,” Lacbain said.
“We even asked for the Governor’s support because we believed that with him our fight would even become stronger,” he added.