The
group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the administration of President Bong
Bong Marcos Jr. for action on the case of union organizer Dennis Sequeña who
was killed five years ago as the Philippines remained on the list of the
world’s worst countries for workers for eight straight years. The International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the peak global body of organized labor,
released the list as part of its 2024 Global Rights Index.
“It
has been five long years of seeking justice for our friend and comrade Dennis
who was shot to death on June 2, 2019 while speaking at a labor rights seminar
for Cavite export zone workers in Tanza. We demand that President Marcos Jr
resolve the case as the ITUC list is a wake up call for government. Further,
action is needed as part of his administration’s commitment to the International
Labour Organization’s (ILO) High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) which
conducted a probe last January 2023,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair
and a Marikina city councilor.
Sequeña’s
fatal shooting days before the annual ILO conference in 2019 sparked outrage
among delegates and led to the decision to send the HLTM to the country to
investigate the series of labor-related killings and other violations of the
right to unionize in the country. It however took more than four years since
that ILO decision for the HLTM to actually conduct its probe. Still, the ILO
HLTM concluded that the “presence of a ‘mindset linking’ unions to the
insurgency without the benefit of due process, [which] has led to a climate of
impunity and violations of workers’ rights” and recommended the formation of a
presidential body to resolve the 72 unsolved cases of labor-related killings as
of the end of 2023.
“The
government’s submission to the Committee on the Application of Standards which
reviewed the complaints against the Philippine state at the just concluded ILO
annual conference states that concrete action has been undertaken by the
concerned agencies. We know that there has been none regarding the case of
Dennis. This despite the fact that the provincial tripartite monitoring body
resolved that the killing of Dennis was labor-related and that the AO 35
Committee headed by the Department of Justice acquired jurisdiction of the case
years ago,” Magtubo explained.
“The brutal murder of Dennis has become a cold case after five years because of inaction by the government despite the presence of leads and findings by bodies such as the provincial tripartite body and the AO 35 Committee. His case reveals the disconnect between words and actions by the government on the prevailing impunity against union leaders and activists,” Magtubo ended.
June 16, 2024
