MANILA, Philippines — Labor and rights groups on Monday appealed to the International Labor Organization (ILO) to look into cases of harassment, union-busting, and killings of Filipino workers as the UN labor agency begins its three-day investigation of alleged labor violations in the country.
The ILO sent a high-level tripartite mission (HITM) to visit the Philippines from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27 to see if the government fulfilled its obligations under international labor conventions, specifically ILO Convention No. 87 (freedom of association and protection of the right to organize).
The mission comes amid continued reports of extrajudicial killings, arrests, and enforced disappearances of trade unionists, as well as cases of red-tagging and harassment of community organizers since the Duterte administration.
In their submission to the HITM, rights group Karapatan pointed to the government as the main perpetrator of the “gross violations on the Filipino workers’ freedom of association and the right to organize [that] have significantly contributed to the human rights crisis and the spiraling climate of impunity in the country.”
“Aside from repetitive and persistent violations primarily by state forces, there is a dire lack of effective and accessible domestic mechanisms for redress and accountability, thereby showing the State party’s failure to adhere and comply with ILO Convention No. 87,” the report read.
Karapatan documented at least 62 victims of extrajudicial killings of leaders or members of workers’ associations and unions from 2016 to 2022.
These include the killings of trade union leader Emmanuel Asuncion, who was killed in the March 2021 “Bloody Sunday” raid that killed eight others; as well as Dandy Miguel, a paralegal who handled their cases.
‘Marked for persecution’
Karapatan noted that trade unionists “seem to have been marked for political persecution before they were arrested and imprisoned through red-tagging, surveillance and other forms of threats and harassments.”
Many of them, for example, are branded as members or supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army “without credible and admissible proof of evidence and by doing such incite violence and harm on them.”
Among those most affected by this practice are members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, who recorded at least 37 incidents of red-tagging of its members by government officials, particularly from the Department of Education now headed by Vice President Sara Duterte.
Organizations such as the Alliance of Health Workers, teacher organization Courage, as well as labor coalition group Kilusang Mayo Uno also experienced being red-tagged and harassed.
Karapatan asked the ILO to recommend to the Philippine government to repeal legislative, administrative, executive, and judicial acts that violate human rights, freedom of association, and right to organize — including the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
It also asked the mission to persuade the government to enact the human rights defenders bill and for the state to publicly recognize and acknowledge the work of trade unions, workers’ organizations, and associations.