Duterte must be held accountable for drug war and labor-related killings

  

The workers group Partido Manggagawa (PM) asserted that former President Rodrigo Duterte must be held accountable for the widespread killings that transpired under his administration. “Duterte must face the music for all the killings during his bloody regime, from drug war killings to the murder of labor leaders and activists,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and Marikina City councilor.

 

He added that “For all intents and purposes, Duterte admitted to his culpability for the drug war deaths in his testimony yesterday at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing. But we must also remember that the drug war extended into a war against human rights defenders. His violent rhetoric not just against drug addicts but also against human rights activists enabled the security forces and vested interests who consider labor and environmental rights defenders as enemies or terrorists. Justice must be served to the 68 victims of labor-related killings under Duterte.”

 

Labor groups put the number of labor leaders and activists killed at 68 from 2016 to the end of Duterte’s term. For 2024, the Philippines slipped in the Labour Rights Index compared to its 2022 score because of the lack of protection for freedom to unionize and bargain collectively. The Labour Rights Index is maintained by the WageIndicator Foundation and the Center for Labor Research based in Amsterdam.

 

“The Philippines got a zero score for Freedom of Association which is to be expected given the unsolved labor-related killings. The Human Rights Watch counted four more union leaders and activists killed under the current administration bringing the total to 72. Moreover, the recommendations of the International Labour Organization’s High-Level Mission in 2023 remain remain pending due to the government’s lack of social dialogue with workers’ groups,” Magtubo explained.

 

The High-Level Mission was the result of outrage at the brutal daylight murder of union organizer Dennis Sequeña just a couple of days before the International Labour Conference of 2019. Sequeña’s killing remains unsolved despite a finding by the AO 35 national task force that it is labor-related. “Justice for Dennis Sequeña will partly be achieved if Duterte is punished for the thousands extra-judicial and labor-related killings under his administration,” Magtubo concluded.

October 29, 2024

Nagkaisa Welcomes ILO Review, Lambasts DOLE for Evasion and Misrepresentation

 

Manila – Nagkaisa, the largest coalition of labor organizations in the Philippines, welcomes the review of the country’s adherence to freedom of association by the ILO’s Committee on Applications and Standards (CAS) adopted last 7 June 2024 in Geneva.

 

Held on the occasion of the 124th session of the ILO International Labour Conference in Geneva, the coalition condemned the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for its blatant evasion and misrepresentation of the issues at hand.

 

During the CAS discussion, speakers from at least ten countries raised serious concerns about ongoing labor rights violations in the Philippines. These international criticisms highlight a stark reality: that the Philippine government has FAILED to implement the recommendations of the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM).

 

"DOLE’s leadership has failed the workers by masking the truth and allowing these violations to persist," said Nagkaisa spokesperson Renato Magtubo.

 

DOLE’s lack of action and apparent duplicity, he added, “blackened the government’s credibility” on the very day that the Philippines was elected as deputy member to the governing body of the ILO.

 

“Back home Sec. Laguesma needs to comply with the directive of the President to recite the pledge and Bagong Pilipinas hym, ‘Panahon na ng Pagbabago’, during flag ceremonies. But with his actions lacking the patriotic and collective spirit of ‘magtulong-tulong’ and ‘ayusin ang dapat ayusin’, change is far from becoming a reality in DOLE,” lamented Magtubo.

 

Nagkaisa insists that DOLE failed to deliver justice to all the 72 trade union leaders killed from 2016 to 2023. On top of that, DOLE apparently does not want to face the reality that red-tagging, abductions, surveillance and profiling and other forms of harassments persists because the Executive Order No. 70 that established the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) remain firmly in place.

 

“We’d like to remind Sec. Laguesma that his inability to address long-standing labor rights issues in the Philippines have serious implications for trade and investments that President Marcos has been working out with the international community since day one,” Magtubo said, adding that the responsibility for this crisis in the making lies squarely with the leadership of the DOLE.

 

The protection and promotion of labor rights are essential to fostering a fair and just society, which in turn, is crucial for sustainable economic growth and attracting international investments.

Nagkaisa Labor Coalition

10 June 2024

Government asked, “Where is the concrete action on labor-related killings”?

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. “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 call on President Marcos Jr. to pursue the case 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 is going to review the complaints against the Philippine state at the ongoing 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 ILO annual conference is currently in session in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

PM is calling on the ILO to reject the government’s request that the Philippines be taken off the list of countries that need to be examined by the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards regarding compliance with international labor standards, including freedom of association and right to collective bargaining.

 

“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 4, 2024

Government’s deeds do not match words on human rights issues

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed the government on its response to the European Union Parliament’s critique of inaction by the Philippines on human rights concerns.

 

“Deeds do not match words. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles are being disingenuous when they say that the administration is acting on the complaints. In reality, violations of human rights continue with impunity. The recent controversial arrest of Dr. Naty Castro is a case in point. Arrest, detention and red-tagging of critics and activists is on top of the thousands killed in the bloody drug war and the dozens of unionists murdered under the present dispensation,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

 

The group said that the EU Parliament is not the only international body taking the government to task. In its latest report, the International Labor Organization’s committee of experts on the committee of experts on the application of conventions and recommendations averred that speedy and effective probes of the killings of trade unionists and the conviction of perpetrators are lacking if not absent.

 

Magtubo added that “Just to cite one case, the murder of union organizer Dennis Sequeña remains unsolved to this day, almost three years after he was shot while facilitating a labor seminar for export zone workers in Cavite. It was the outrage over the killing of Dennis just days before the annual International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2019 that precipitated the current complaint against the Philippine government for systematic violations of Convention 87 and Convention 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

 

 “Aside from Dennis, no justice has been served for the killings of PM leaders Orlando Abangan of Cebu, Rolando Pango and Victoriano Embang of Negros Occidental. As the ILO report has noted, the government keeps on repeating that investigations are happening without providing any details,” Magtubo insisted.

 

The group also stated that the government is dragging its feet on a review of the rules governing the conduct of security personnel during disputes and the scrapping of a program on peacekeeping in the export processing zones.

 

“The Philippine Economic Zone Authority in particular has been blocking progress on strengthening the freedom to unionize and the right to protest of workers in export processing zones. Their latest maneuver has been to change the name of the Joint Industrial Peace Concerns Office to Alliance for Industrial Peace and Program Office but the aim of militarizing ecozones by setting up police precincts and suppressing unionism remains in place,” Magtubo explained. 

February 22, 2022

Justice for slain union organizer on his first death anniversary—labor group

The labor group Partido Manggagawa reiterated its call for justice for its union organizer who was brutally murdered last year. Dennis Sequeña, Cavite provincial chair of Partido Manggagawa (PM) and veteran labor organizer of ecozone workers, was shot and killed in June 2, 2019 while facilitating a union seminar among workers in the Cavite Economic Zone.

“On the occasion of the first death anniversary of Ka Dennis, we call the attention of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) that justice has not been served and his unidentified killers are still at large. The unsolved murder of Ka Dennis highlights the new normal of impunity characterized by killings of rights defenders, double standard in the enforcement of lockdown rules, restriction of civil liberties and the looming danger of the anti-terror bill,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The murder of Sequeña was immediately condemned by local and international labor groups and led to a recommendation at the International Labor Organization conference in June 2019 for a high level mission to be sent to the country to investigate the killings of unionists and violations of freedom of association. Later the Technical Executive Committee of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council made a determination that Sequeña’s killing was extra-judicial and thus was under the purview of Administrative Order 35 (AO 35). In August 2019 the DOJ, as lead agency of AO 35, announced that a special investigative team was formed to probe the killing.

“We thus ask both the DOJ and DOLE: what is the status of the probe on the murder of Ka Dennis? Neither the family nor our organization has been updated of any development,” declared Magtubo.

He added that, “Relatedly, we also call on the DOLE to convene the technical working group for the review of the guidelines on the conduct of PNP, AFP and other security forces during labor disputes and the exercise of the freedom of association in the ecozones, the advocacy for which Ka Dennis gave his life for. The DOLE cannot make covid an excuse for inaction. On the contrary, a workers’ picketline in an ecozone in Cavite was dispersed using the lockdown as an alibi. Two workers of Sejung Apparel in the First Cavite Industrial Estate were threatened with arrest on Black Friday night, April 19, by Dasmarinas police, who refused to identify themselves, for alleging violating the curfew rules since they were manning the picketline.”

“Justice for Dennis also means justice for all workers. We ask the DOLE to investigate the dispersal of the Sejung picketline and for the reopening of the garments factory to produce much needed face masks not only to provide employment to the jobless workers and but also assist in the covid response,” Magtubo proposed.

June 2, 2020

State of human rights in the country regressing further – labor group

The state of human rights in the country continues to regress under the Duterte administration, the Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement sent to media on the International Human Rights Day. The group joined the march by members of human rights community led by the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) and i-DEFEND in Quezon City. 

“Extra-judicial killings remain unchecked while harassments and actual assaults against human rights defenders (HRDs) in the trade union and other people’s organizations escalated in recent months,” said PM Secretary General Judy Miranda. 

These assaults, Miranda noted, include red-tagging, misogyny, arrest and detentions, including unsolved killings of HRDs working for trade union rights and protection of the environment. 

Last June, trade union leader Dennis Sequeña of PM Cavite was gunned down while doing lecture on basic trade union rights for EPZA workers. This incident, including other cases of trade union killings and violations, prompted the International Labor Organization (ILO) to send a high level mission to the Philippines to investigate the state of trade union repression in the country. That mission, however, is yet to be acknowledged and allowed entry by the government. 

But for the group, the biggest threat to human rights in the country is the counter-narrative being peddled against its very concept and principles by no less than the President who keeps on vilifying the HRDs as bad guys working with society’s criminal elements. 

“It’s very similar to having a company CEO who keeps on telling his workers that labor rights are bad. That mindset justifies all repressive actions while creating fear among workers that having a job is better than enjoying labor rights,” concluded Miranda.

10 December 2019

Black Monday protest by workers vs Duterte veto of SOT bill

Workers are launching protests today in Manila and Cebu in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s veto of the Security of Tenure bill last Friday, on the eve of its lapse into law. The noise barrage today is also the start of labor’s renewed campaign for a strong law to strictly regulate the rampant practice of contractualization.

“The Security of Tenure bill is the latest victim of killing under the Duterte regime. Workers vow to continue the fight to end endo,” declared Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson of Partido Manggagawa (PM).

PM and other labor groups such as Sentro ng Progresibo at Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (SENTRO) and Alliance of General Unions, Institutions and Labor Associations (AGUILA) will launch this afternoon a noise barrage dubbed “Black Monday Protest.” In Metro Manila, the protest is at 5:00 pm at the Boy Scout Circle. While in Metro Cebu, the noise barrage is also at 5:00 pm at Gate 1 of the Mactan Economic Zone in Lapu-Lapu City. Protesters will wear black to symbolize the death of the SOT bill.

The groups also preparing to lobby the new Congress for a new and stronger version of the Security of Tenure bill. “Workers want a law that will ensure regular jobs is the norm in employment relations. We do not accept Duterte’s excuse that employers can outsource jobs even if it is directly related and necessary to its business. That simply opens the floodgates to the abusive system of contractualization that is happening today,” Fortaleza argued.

“Workers will not forget this betrayal by Duterte of his promise to end endo. Three months into his administration, Duterte forcefully warned employers that he will kill them for continuing with the practice of endo. But now three years into his term, he is parroting the lame capitalist alibi that businesses will die if workers are made regular. Duterte’s promise to end endo is dead,” Fortaleza asserted.

He added that “In the class war between the workers and capitalists on contractualization, Duterte has revealed that he is an enemy of the working class and the CEO of the capitalist class.”

July 29, 2019

Workers slam killing of SOT bill

Photo from ABS-CBN

The ‘ifs and buts’ on the anti-endo bill are over. After an overnight flip-flop on whether a presidential veto is coming out or not, the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill has finally found its death today inside the Palace.

“We didn’t expect that even a weak version of an SOT bill will suffer judicial killing from the President,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

Magtubo said that between labor’s demand to end endo and the employers’ call to veto it, President Duterte has clearly surrendered to the capitalist blackmail.

He reminded the President that, three months into his administration, he forcefully warned employers that he will kill them for continuing with the practice of endo.

“Now that he is three years into his term, he has completely made a U-turn by singing the capitalist chorus that businesses will die if workers are made regular. Duterte’s promise to end endo is dead,” said Magtubo.

The veto’s message, the labor leader said, was very clear on its intent: “That the President wanted to maintain the country’s exploitative yet competitive status quo - our being a republic of endo.”

The labour group argued that: “Without a stronger anti-endo law, all type of work in the country is now candidate for all type of contractual employment arrangements. Businesses may grow out of this exploitative model, which NEDA, DoF, DTI and DOLE truly believe, but not the living standard of workers which is what social justice wanted to achieve.”

The death of anti-endo bill, however, won’t stop the struggle of workers against the epidemic of contractualization until the last three years of the Duterte administration.

“Hangga’t buhay ang endo, tuloy ang laban!,” concluded Magtubo.

26 July 2019

Workers vow to fight chacha at counter-SONA rally

At the top of issues to be raised by workers at the counter-SONA rally today is the opposition to charter change. “Chicha hindi chacha. The government must attend to the problem of hunger and poverty instead of term extension and foreign ownership which are the agenda of charter change,” declared Rene Magtubo, chair of the group Partido Manggagawa (PM).

PM is participating in the coalition United Workers SONA which will mobilize this afternoon. The United Workers SONA coalition will then join up with other broad networks for the United People’s SONA.

The group is also joining the rally by human rights group at the Quezon City Hall by 10:30 am to cry justice for the victims of extra-judicial killings and also demand action on the death of Cavite labor organizer Dennis Sequena.

In Cebu, PM is joining a broad coalition of groups Sentro, Kalipunan and Bayan for a rally that will echo the demands of the United People’s SONA at Commonwealth. The counter-SONA in Cebu City will be at Colon St. by 9:00 am.

Magtubo averred that that “Duterte may repeat in the SONA the unsubstantiated claim by the Labor Department that 500,000 workers have been regularized. Where is the evidence and particulars? The truth is that companies such as PLDT and Philippine Airlines have appealed in the courts the orders to regularize thousands of agency workers. The Philippines is still a Republic of Endo, a Province of China and a puppet of the US.”

He added that “Up to now, President Duterte has not signed the SOT bill due to the powerful lobby of employers for a veto. Should President Duterte surrender to the demand to veto the bill, then he reveals where he stands on the class war between the workers and capitalists on contractualization. A presidential veto will just be another betrayal of his promise to workers. But even if the Security of Tenure bill is signed or lapses into law, endo will persist since the legislation is a watered-down version.” Thus the group averred that among workers demands for the SONA mobilization is a stronger law to stamp out contractualization.

In the counter-SONA rally, aside from pushing for an end to endo, workers are also clamoring for a reform of the wage-setting mechanism.

“We welcome the announcement by the Department of Labor and Employment that it will undertake a study on the current wage system in response to the calls to abolish the regional wage boards. Although we fear that powerful lobby by employers will once more scuttle any real reform,” asserted Magtubo.

PM is batting for the abolition of the regional wage boards and its replacement by a National Wage Commission which will fix a national minimum wage based on the cost of living. The group is also calling for the provision of a minimum basic income for workers in the SME sector which is unregulated and exempted from the minimum wage setting.

July 22, 2019

Workers picket DOLE to demand investigation of union organizer killing

Members of the group Partido Manggagawa (PM) picketed this morning the main office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to demand that the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) be convened to investigate the killing of a union organizer in Cavite. The mass action coincides with the 40^th day since the brutal shooting of Dennis Sequeña, vice chair of the PM-Cavite chapter and veteran union organizer.

“We condemn the glaring inaction and chilling silence of the DOLE on the killing of our colleague Dennis. Today marks 40 days since his murder, and the relevant government agencies have so far failed to make any headway in the investigation of the case,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The NTIPC, sitting as the National Tripartite Monitoring Body (NTMB), is tasked to investigate complaints of labor-related extra-judicial killings. The NTMB was formed in response to the recommendations of a high level mission by the International Labor Organization in 2009.

The mass action today over the murder of Sequeña comes in the wake of the Philippines being named among the ten worse countries for workers. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the global body of organized labor, has once again listed the country for systematic violations of labor rights.

Sequeña was killed in broad daylight by a gunman in the middle of a meeting with ecozone workers last June 2. Local and international labor groups, including the labor coalition Nagkaisa and the ITUC, condemned the murder, called on the DOLE to stop the killings of unionists and investigate these cases.

“It is sad and frustrating to note that such basic acts of workers self-organization, protected no less by our Constitution and several international conventions and treaties, come at the price of the lives of countless labor organizers and rights defenders. Dennis’ murder and the appalling state of worker’s rights in ecozones simply confirm the report by the ITUC that the Philippines is among the ten most dangerous countries for unionists,” Magtubo explained.

PM also demanded that the DOLE enforce laws guaranteeing the freedom of association in ecozones in light of rampant management interference and intimidation against workers exercising their constitutional and human rights. Sequeña was actively assisting three unions at the time of his killing. This month several unions in the ecozones of Cavite are due to undergo certification elections but organizers are alleging that workers are “challenged by adversity and harassment by management.”

July 11, 2019

Advisory: Picket tom vs DOLE inaction over killing of Cavite union organizer

Media Advisory

July 10, 2019

Partido Manggagawa

Contact Judy Ann Miranda @ 09228677522

DOLE picket re inaction over killing of Cavite union organizer

WHAT: Picket by workers over silence and inaction of DOLE on killings

WHEN: Tomorrow, July 11, 2019; 10:00 am

WHERE: DOLE main office, Intramuros

DETAILS:

On the occasion of the 40th day of the death of union organizer Dennis Sequena, scores of members of Partido Manggagawa including workers from Cavite will picket the DOLE main office tomorrow. The group is criticizing Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello for his silence and inaction on the killing of Sequena. Local and international groups have called on the DOLE, without success, for a statement condemning the brutal murder of Sequena and the convening of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council to investigate.

PM is also demanding that DOLE enforce laws guaranteeing freedom of association at the ecozones in the light of rampant management interference. Five unions which Sequena was actively assisting just had certification elections last month or are due to face elections this month. For the third year running, the Philippines was on the list of 10 worst countries for workers due to systematic suppression of the labor rights. 

Funeral/protest march tom for slain Cavite union organizer as more groups call for action on killings

Slain Cavite union organizer, Dennis Sequena, is to be buried tomorrow with his family and colleagues holding a funeral and protest march. International and local labor and human rights groups have called on government for action on his killing.

Sequena, vice chair of the Cavite chapter of Partido Manggagawa (PM) and also a partylist nominee of the group in the last elections, was shot and killed last June 2 while meeting a group of workers.

The funeral march will start tomorrow 9:00 am from the community of Workersville in Brgy. Punta, Tanza where he was killed and end in the Sta. Cruz Memorial Park in the same town. Last Sunday, scores of worker activists and community leaders attended a tribute to Sequena where he was honored as a “hero of epza workers.”

Aside from local workers’ groups like PM, Sentro and the Nagkaisa coalition, international labor and human rights organizations are calling on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to resolve the spate of killings of labor and human rights activists.

The International Trade Union Confederation representing 207 million workers in 163 countries has formally sent a letter to Bello and asked him to convene the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council to investigate the fatal shooting of Sequena. The Business and Human Rights Resource Center and the International Labor Rights Forum also issued statements condemning the killing of Sequena. The two international labor rights both worked with Sequena on issues workers rights of workers in the Cavite ecozone.

The BHRRC statement can be accessed here: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/business-human-rights-resource-centre-condemns-the-killing-of-filipino-labour-leader-dennis-seque%C3%B1a

THE ITUC letter can be accessed here: https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ituc_letter_to_dole_on_leonides_dennis_sequena.pdf.

Photos of the tribute to Sequena can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/partidomanggagawa/posts/10157187408269323?__xts__[0]=68.ARAse6d1ymGJdc2i7_QnNY7PiMHoy_2-VP-YWBmbjkOtXuIa1pFmXdt0Yw3WYE83v8GlevF5-NhxMk2bH9gEPwu5N8iu1j1RWOGdtfYU-Fi_GMc6kjWZ0-9RimVMyleMiuP8CPSPwdha2NGQLHhmxWv2FwaHLSvZK9xGTfCvDubeyxmLB9jlxs0N_dR_SmsBQ_xOF6GDQXk_Cw2Ez8BZn3uQNhY_VHY7zekIUWgFxswAVNH-vPnSGRmzO1aBk0TN4wvkvZBBeY_Mhp8o2NThrhWJKD6mWssgw_nEr8ZdafeDYG75pUSbc2JdJorCIXAW2tqNysGy8uYCP669p6Jc&__tn__=-R 

June 11, 2019

Media Advisory: Funeral & protest march for slain Cavite union organizer tom

Media Advisory: Parangal for slain Cavite unionist as intl labor center calls for a stop to killings

Group calls on Bello to act on killings of labor leaders

The group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello for action on the continued killings of labor leaders a day after the fatal shooting of a union organizer in Cavite during a meeting of workers.

“We demand action from Secretary Bello to stop the series of extra-judicial killings of labor activists and trade unionists. As Labor Secretary, he must raise a voice against these killings. And we ask him to immediately convene the National Tripartite Monitoring Body (NTMB) which has the mandate to probe labor-related EJK’s,” stated Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The labor coalition Nagkaisa has likewise called on the Department of Labor and Employment for urgent response on the death of Sequena. The NTMB was formed in response to the recommendation of the International Labor Organization High Level Mission (ILO HLM) in 2009 to investigate violations of the freedom of association and killings of trade unionists.

“The shooting of Dennis while he was conducting a labor rights seminar is a particular blatant act of violence against workers exercising their freedom of association. This should not be happening 10 years after the ILO HLM,” Magtubo insisted.

Sequena is a National Council member of PM and vice chair of its provincial chapter in Cavite. He is the second PM labor activist killed since 2016. Orlando Abangan, PM-Cebu leader and informal worker organizer of the labor center Sentro, was shot and killed in September 2016.

Earlier, Victoriano Embang, president of the sugar workers association of Hacienda Maria Cecilia, Isabela in Negros Occidental was shot and killed in December 2012. Rolando Pango, a farm worker leader in Binalbagan, Negros Occidental was ambushed in November 2014. Both Embang and Pango were PM leaders involved in helping workers embroiled in labor and agrarian disputes.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) named the Philippines as one among the worst countries in 2018 for trade unionists due to systematic violations of labor rights and the continued killings of worker leaders.

June 3, 2019

Basic Sectors, Human Rights Groups Join Forces to Reject ChaCha

Around 2,000 human rights advocates from labor, women, farmers, urban poor, environmental activists, indigenous peoples and the youth gathered at 1pm in front of the EDSA Shrine today. Coming from the Kalipunan ng Kilusang Masa (KALIPUNAN), the mobilization held a streamer: “Not this Charter Change! Not this Federalism!”

Lanz Espacio, spokesperson of Kalipunan declared, “the basic sectors are not asking for a constitutional change, but for a change in their conditions which was not uplifted in the last 32 years.” Espacio said that the people’s agenda then and now is genuine empowerment of the real majority – the basic sectors. However, the result of the first EDSA was elitist democracy, while the current administration is pushing for a new dictatorship using ChaCha or its version of “revolutionary government” as vehicle.

“We will not allow a dictatorship to happen. What happened in 1986 and before then was people’s struggle against a dictatorship,” said Jean Enriquez, co-convenor of KALIPUNAN and coordinator of World March of Women (WMW). “We will not allow the shortcomings of the last 32 years nor loopholes in the Constitution to be used a defective change being pushed by the Duterte administration,” she added.

Wilson Fortaleza of Partido Manggagawa (PM) added that they also want change, but a change that is real. “Mas masidhi, kung tutuusin, ang pagnanais ng mga sektor para dito. Pero pagbabago sa paraang kasali ang batayang sektor na silang dapat sentrong benepisyaryo ng gagawing pagbabago. Gusto namin ng isang Demokrasyang para sa lahat, hindi para sa iilan,” according to Fortaleza.

“Our agenda is to stop the killings, protect and promote human rights and make justice happen,” said Nestor Yaranon of Kilos Maralita, also a member of Kalipunan. “What we ask for is to stop “Endo” and raise wages, complete and expand agrarian reform, to institute liberative education and decent, affordable housing for the poor, eliminate violence against women, respond to climate change and stop extractive industries, stop privatization, dynaties.”

Josua Mata of SENTRO added that these demands are not the intent behind ChaCha. “Real change remains in our hands,” Mata added.

Alyansa Tigil Mina, Union of Students for the Advancement of Democracy, Urban Poor Alliance and PAKISAMA are also part of KALIPUNAN. They are joined by In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement in EDSA Shrine going to the People Power Monument for a program against charter change and dictatorship, and for human rights and democracy.

Kalipunan

25 February 2018

Workers calls for defense of political freedoms on Independence Day

As the nation celebrates Independence Day today, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on workers to defend political freedoms. “The workers and the people must be vigilant in protecting the liberties and freedoms we now enjoy amidst the declaration of martial law in Mindanao and the extra-judicial killings due to the war on drugs,” declared Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

The group also expressed solidarity with the rallies and events being held today to echo a similar call of defending civil liberties and political freedom. PM had earlier stated its opposition to the imposition of martial law in Mindanao.

“Even as workers are aware of the defects of the trapo democracy we have today, the rights and freedoms Filipinos possess at the moment is better than having none at all under a martial law or authoritarian regime,” Magtubo averred.

He explained that “Martial law in Mindanao is a disproportionate response to a localized issue. Further, it is a transgression of the Constitution as only rebellion and invasion, not terrorism, are the basis of imposing military rule. Clearly, after more than two weeks since its declaration, martial law has not helped in putting down the Maute group. What martial law has done is unnecessarily sacrifice workers’ and people’s rights in the guise of suppressing terrorism. Reports of the dispersal of a labor strike by soldiers in Compostela Valley is just the harbinger of such abuses under a martial law regime.”

“The accounts of abuses in Mindanao due to martial law is no different from the cases of extra-judicial killings or arbitrary arrests of labor unionists because of the war on drugs. In the bloody month of September 2016, seven labor leaders and farmer activists were killed vigilante-style, among them a PM organizer in Cebu City. That same month, a union president was arrested in Tarlac on trumped up charges of drug possession,” Magtubo said.

The group vowed to launch protests and actions to defend civil liberties and resist labor repression. “While employers’ groups were among those welcoming the declaration of martial law, workers will be at the forefront of resisting the repression of civil liberties,” Magtubo insisted.

12 June 2017

Advisory: Human Rights Day rally tom by iDefend coalition

Tomorrow, December 10, 10:00 am, Mendiola
Assembly 8:00 am, UST along Espana

Justice for victims of extra-judicial killings!

Justice for victims of martial law!

Justice for victims of endo!

On DU30s 100th day: Church, labor groups call for ‘kabuhayan hindi patayan’

The Duterte administration should redefine itself despite the high approval rating it got from pursuing its ruthless campaign against drugs during the first 100 days.

The challenge was made by the Church-Labor Conference (CLC), an aggrupation of labor and church groups in the country, in a rally held at the Mabuhay Rotonda this morning, on the occasion of President Duterte’s 100^th day in office.  October 7 also marks the celebration of World Day for Decent Work.

In Cebu, the chapter of Partido Manggagawa (PM) echoed this call. “Ang kahirapan at adiksyon ay magkarugtong na problema. Ang malawakang patayan at ang kahandaan pang pumatay ng 3 milyong pusher at adik ay hindi solusyon sa kahirapan. Ang kailangan ay bagong patakaran at konkretong hakbang na maghahango sa 26 na milyong Pilipino mula sa kahirapan, magbibigay kabuhayan at regular na trabaho sa 40 na milyong manggagawa, at buhay na may dignidad para sa lahat,” said PM-Cebu spokesperson Dennis Derige.

One of PM-Cebu's leader and organizer, Orlando "Ka Lando" Abangan, was shot and killed last September in a vigilante style killing. His killing remains unsolved.

PM national chair and CLC co-chair Renato Magtubo said the next five and a half years will be more challenging for the Duterte administration amid the sharpening contradictions between the contending classes inside and outside his administration in dealing with other social programs.

He cited as an example the strong opposition coming from local and foreign business groups against workers demand to finally end the policy contractualization and the realization of the living wage principle enshrined in the constitution.

“Sa manggagawa ay simple lang ang depinisyon ng pagbabago. Wala nito kung nariyan pa rin ang endo at mababa ang sweldo. Wala nito kung mananatiling untouchable ang mga gaya ni Lucio Tan, Henry Sy, at iba pang endo lords,” added Magtubo.

Labor groups were all opposed to the win-win solution on endo being proposed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) which promotes regularization outside of the principal employers but to the third party service providers such as manpower agencies and cooperatives.

The group is also opposed to the planned imposition of regressive taxes to replace revenue loss resulting from the removal of VAT exemptions from senior citizens and the lowering of income taxes for corporations and individuals in the higher tax brackets.

Advisory: Workers to mark Duterte's 100 days with rally today