By JOSIAH DAVID QUISING
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The Philippines has ratified ILO Convention No. 87, also known as the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, in 1953. Seventy years later, workers’ unions and labor organizers have never been more in danger.  

The 2024 Workers’ Rights Watch (WRW) Report released last March shows an increase in workers’ rights violations after the highly anticipated visit of the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) in January 2023. The WRW documented 169 cases from 2016 to 2024, of which 83 occurred after the HLTM. 

Killings

The most gruesome findings are the killings. From Alex Dolorosa, found with 23 stab wounds in Bacolod, to unionist Jude Thaddeus Fernandez, gunned down in Rizal by police forces—the blood of Filipino workers continues to be spilled for simply exercising their right to organize.

Read: Labor organizer killed in Rizal province

Thirty additional killings of trade unionists took place from 2016 to 2023, many were tied to Synchronized Enhanced Managing of Police Operation (SEMPO), also known as “Oplan Sauron” and other counterinsurgency operations like Memorandum No. 32 that deployed additional military and police forces in Negros, Samar, and Bicol. 

The WRW Report noted that the operations under Oplan Sauron were implemented with glaring similarity to former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug (tokhang) operations. For example, in the 2018 Guihulngan 6 massacre, the victims were reported to have been asleep when their houses were raided and were violently awakened and dragged from their homes and were made to lie on the ground at gunpoint. Six farmers were killed and the rest were arrested and charged with illegal possession of firearms. The same happened in 2019 in the Negros 14 massacre where 14 farmers were killed and subsequently tagged as armed rebels who allegedly fought back during arrest (“nanlaban”).

Abduction, red-tagging, and state interference

The report cites at least 41 cases of red-tagging, surveillance, and intimidation. The case of environmental defenders Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro, who were abducted and then forced to sign affidavits that claim they were rebels, reveals the growing trend and systematic nature of the abduction-surrender scheme employed against activists. The freedom of association inherently includes the right not to be compelled to associate with organizations to which one does not belong to.

Aside from forced fake surrenders, the 2024 WRW Report also recorded other anti-union activities such as violence during strikes and mobilizations as well as state intervention in union affairs. The report cited the case of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. and its union North Luzon Coca-Cola Beverages Logistics Union (NOLCOCBLU), which was allegedly created by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). According to the employees, union meetings of NOLCOCBLU were held in military and police facilities.

According to WRW, the members of NOLCOCBLU were once part of The RedSystem Company Inc. Employees Association – Federation of Free Workers (TRCIEA-FFW). In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that TRCI employees should be considered regular employees of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.. TRCIEA FFW then filed a petition with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to recognize TRCIEA-FFW as a national union; however, instead of acting on the petition, the regional DOLE approved the creation of separate unions including the alleged NTF-ELCAC-led NOLCOCBLU. 

Paper gains and empty promises

The Philippine government has boasted of Executive Order No. 23, the Omnibus Guidelines on FOA, and the Tripartite FOA Roadmap as its response to the recommendations of ILO-HLTM. However, the WRW Report identified several gaps in these policies.

EO 23 created the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) for the Protection of the Freedom of Association and Right to Organize of Workers. Unfortunately, contrary to the ILO-HLTM recommendation, EO 23’s IAC excludes workers from its membership, while including red-tagging institutions like the NTF-ELCAC and the Philippine National Police. 

While the establishment of the Tripartite Roadmap by the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) through Resolution No. 2 (2024) was a welcome development, WRW highlighted that the following key reforms in the Tripartite Roadmap has made no real progress:

• No new law easing requirements for registering new unions has been passed;
• No enabling law for ILO Convention 151 on Public Sector Labor Relations has been passed; 
• No Human Rights Defenders Law; and 
• No legislation establishing a Truth Commission, composed of eminent persons to investigate cases of EJKs and provide compensation for victims who cannot find justice.

Filipino workers deserve better

Seventy years have passed since the Philippines committed to protect workers’ rights to organize; but what does the Philippines have to show for it? Despite interventions by the ILO, Filipino workers still struggle to be heard, while their leaders continue to be harassed and killed. WRW have documented the following human and trade union rights violations just within their network:

Generations have passed since the ratification of ILO Convention No. 87. It is high time for the Philippine government to take its dialogues with workers seriously and honor its commitments by creating policies that genuinely protect the fundamental right of workers to organize. (RTS, RVO)