Workers appeal as steel mill closed in Misamis

FACTORY CLOSURE Workers gather outside the Philippine Sanjia Steel Corp. facility in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, on Saturday as police secure the area during Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro’s visit following a NBI raid that temporarily shut down the plant. —RYAN D. ROSAURO

TAGOLOAN, MISAMIS ORIENTAL, Philippines — About 50 workers gathered outside the gate of the Philippine Sanjia Steel Corp. on Saturday, holding placards and hoping to catch the attention of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro after he inspected the now controversial facility.

The workers called for the resumption of the steel plant’s operations, saying their livelihoods have been disrupted.

The plant—operated by a company linked to Chinese businessman Tony Yang, who admitted in a 2024 Senate probe that he had faked his Filipino citizenship—temporarily halted operations on Friday after National Bureau of Investigation agents, along with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, raided its compound.

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