WORKERS from an industrial zone near Manila narrated to a delegation of the International Labor Organization (ILO) what they said were abuses they had suffered in factories as a result of a ban on organizing and other violations of labor rights.

Joycee Rosales, a worker from Japanese-owned Sun Ever Light Electronics Company, recalled how armed members of the Special Warfare Actions Group (SWAG) kept eye on union leaders and active members in production lines in 2004.

She told the ILO representatives soldiers and guards of the Philippine Export Zone Authority and the company attacked women workers Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2001.

?They sexually harassed us and tried to catch us in nets as if we?re animals,? she said.

?They enforced a food blockade and starved us for 33 hours,? Rosales, a union member in the firm, was quoted as telling the ILO by the Pambansang Alyansa ng mga Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (Pamantik), an affiliate of the left-wing labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno.

The Sun Ever Light case was one of several presented to the ILO team at a forum in an undisclosed area last Friday.

At least 15 workers presented cases of abuse arising from the ?no union, no strike? policy enforced in export processing zones (EPZ).

Another case presented was that of workers in the Korean-owned Phils. Jeon Garments.

Normelita Galon, union head there, said workers were resting one night at a picket line in the Cavite EPZ when unidentified men gagged and blindfolded them using packaging tape.

The men broke up the picket line and took two of the workers.

Hermie Marasigan, Pamantik spokesman, said EPZs have become notorious because of their unwritten no union, no strike policy.

?This was developed and is being perfected in combination with repressive political measures,? Marasigan said.

Luz Fortuna, widow of slain Pamantik-KMU chairman and Nestle union president Diosdado Fortuna, testified on her husband?s murder and accused management and government of involvement.

Unidentified men murdered Diosdado on Sep. 22, 2005, while he was on his way home from a picket line in Nestle Phils Cabuyao.

The Nestle workers were on strike in 1988 when union president Meliton Roxas was assassinated in front of the company gates. Roxas? and Fortuna?s murders are unsolved.

Colleagues of Jesus Servida and Gerardo Cristobal, murdered Cavite labor leaders and union officers of EMI-Yazaki, also testified before the ILO panel.